Heart rate variability in Parkinson's disease unaffected by deep brain stimulation.
OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to investigate the impact of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) on the cardiovagal control of patients with advanced Parkinson's disease.


METHODS
Twenty-four patients (mean age: 62.1 ± 9.4 years) were examined 3 days before and 6 months after DBS by a questionnaire, blood pressure monitoring and a battery of neurophysiological tests: time domain analysis of RR interval variation during normal and deep breathing (DB), Valsalva manoeuvre, and tilt test. By off-line, performed frequency domain analysis of heart rate variation, total power (TP), low frequency band (LF) band, high-frequency (HF) band, and their normalized units were estimated. The neurophysiological measurements were compared to those of 24 healthy controls.


RESULTS
The values of time domain variables were pre- and postoperatively lower in patients than in controls. A significant reduction was found in LF band after the implantation. Orthostatic hypotension was present in 45.8% of the patients preoperatively and 12.5% postoperatively. There was no correlation between DBS-related changes of motor function and corresponding neurophysiological measurements, but patients with more than 60% motor improvement had higher time domain parameters' values than the others.


CONCLUSIONS
STN-DBS offered no considerable impact on autonomic cardiovascular control.
Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
E
E
Trachani
C
C
Constantoyannis
G C
GC
Sakellaropoulos
M L
ML
Stavrinou
G
G
Nikiforidis
E
E
Chroni
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007024:Hypotension, Orthostatic / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D020531:Subthalamic Nucleus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome