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Updated: Aug 16, 2025
Author Spotlight: Automated Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's Disease - Exploring the Possibilities and Challenges of Home Monitoring
Published on: July 14, 2023
When brain devices go wrong: a patient with a malfunctioning deep brain stimulator (DBS) presents to the emergency
Isabel Straw1, Charlotte Ashworth2, Nicola Radford2
1Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, London, UK isabelstraw@doctors.org.uk.
Abstract:
A man in his 50s attended the emergency department with an acute deterioration in his Parkinson's symptoms, presenting with limb rigidity, widespread tremor, choreiform dyskinesia, dysarthria, intense sadness and a severe occipital headache. After excluding common differentials for sudden-onset parkinsonism (eg, infection, medication change), an error on the patient's deep brain stimulator was noted. The patient's symptoms only resolved once he was transferred to the specialist centre so that the programmer could reset the device settings. Due to COVID-19-related bed pressures on the ward, there was a delay in the patient receiving specialist attention-highlighting the need for non-specialist training in the emergency management of device errors.
