title: Surgical adverse events of deep brain stimulation in the subthalamic nucleus of patients with Parkinson's disease. The learning curve and the pitfalls.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several surgical adverse events (SAEs) have been associated with Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients, leading to certain confusion about the risk/benefit ratio of this technique, and giving rise to the need of more and more extensive control studies over longer periods. The aim of this article is to identify and quantify the factors associated with the most frequent AEs from STN DBS in PD-diagnosed patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The following variables were studied: aborted procedure, misplaced leads, intracranial haemorrhage, and seizures. This study was carried out in 233 patients diagnosed with PD, with 455 STN electrodes implanted and follow-up after 7 (8-14) years follow up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total amount of 56 SAEs occurred in 49 patients (11.76 % of total procedures, 12.31 % of implanted leads, 21.03 % of patients). SAEs were: five aborted procedures, 26 misplaced leads, ten intracranial haemorrhages, and 15 seizures. Of all the SAEs, long-term effects only happened in two cases of hemiparesis caused by intracranial haemorrhage; the other SAEs were reversible and didn't leave any long-term clinical consequences (0.42 % of procedures, 0.44 % of leads, and 0.86 % of patients).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  STN DBS in PD patients is a safe surgical procedure, with good risk/benefit ratios: procedure reliability/correct lead implantation in 95.59 %, 0 mortality/implanted lead, 0.12 morbidity/implanted lead, and 0.0043 neurological sequelae/implanted lead.
authors.affiliation: Neurosurgery Department, Central University Hospital of Asturias, Celestino Villamil, s/n., 33006, Oviedo, Spain.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Seijo
authors.forename: Sayoa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alvarez de Eulate Beramendi
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Santamarta Liébana
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lozano Aragoneses
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saiz Ayala
authors.forename: Ramón
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fernández de León
authors.forename: Marco Antonio
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Alvarez Vega
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020300:Intracranial Hemorrhages / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000601:surgery*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology*; D020531:Subthalamic Nucleus / Q000601:surgery*