Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic and pedunculopontine nucleus in a patient with Parkinson's disease.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) is a novel therapy developed to treat Parkinson's disease. We report a patient who underwent bilateral DBS of the PPN and subthalamic nucleus (STN). He suffered from freezing of gait (FOG), bradykinesia, rigidity and mild tremors. The patient underwent bilateral DBS of the PPN and STN. We compared the benefits of PPN-DBS and STN-DBS using motor and gait subscores. The PPN-DBS provided modest improvements in the gait disorder and freezing episodes, while the STN-DBS failed to improve the dominant problems. This special case suggests that PPN-DBS may have a unique role in ameliorating the locomotor symptoms and has the potential to provide improvement in FOG.
Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Huan-Guang
HG
Liu
Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Kai
K
Zhang
Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
An-Chao
AC
Yang
Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. ; Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Beijing Neurosurgical Institute, Beijing, China.
Jian-Guo
JG
Zhang
Deep brain stimulation; Parkinson's disease; Pedunculopontine nucleus; Subthalamic nucleus