title: One-pass deep brain stimulation of dentato-rubro-thalamic tract and subthalamic nucleus for tremor-dominant or equivalent type Parkinson's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Refractory tremor in tremor-dominant (TD) or equivalent-type (EQT) idiopathic Parkinson's syndrome (IPS) poses the challenge of choosing the best target region to for deep brain stimulation (DBS). While the subthalamic nucleus is typically chosen in younger patients as the target for dopamine-responsive motor symptoms, it is more complicated if tremor does not (fully) respond under trial conditions. In this report, we present the first results from simultaneous bilateral DBS of the DRT (dentato-rubro-thalamic tract) and the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in two elderly patients with EQT and TD IPS and dopamine-refractory tremor.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two patients received bilateral octopolar DBS electrodes in the STN additionally traversing the DRT region. Achieved electrode positions were determined with helical CT, overlaid onto DTI tractography data, and compared with clinical data of stimulation response.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both patients showed immediate and sustained improvement of their tremor, bilaterally.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The proposed approach appears to be safe and feasible and a combined stimulation of the two target regions was performed tailored to the patients' symptoms. Clinically, no neuropsychiatric effects were seen. Our pilot data suggest a viable therapeutic option to treat the subgroup of TD and EQT IPS and with tremor as the predominant symptom. A clinical study to further investigate this approach (
  www.clinicaltrials.gov ; NCT02288468) is the focus of our ongoing research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Freiburg University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany. volker.coenen@uniklinik-freiburg.de.
authors.forename: Volker Arnd
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Coenen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Freiburg University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rijntjes
authors.affiliation: Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Freiburg University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Prokop
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Freiburg University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Piroth
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Freiburg University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Amtage
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroradiology, Freiburg University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Horst
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Urbach
authors.affiliation: Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Freiburg University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter Christoph
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Reinacher
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D020531:Subthalamic Nucleus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014202:Tremor / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Deep brain stimulation; Dentato-rubro-thalamic tract; Fiber tracking; Parkinson’s disease; STN; Tremor