Five-Year Outcomes from Deep Brain Stimulation of the Subthalamic Nucleus for Parkinson Disease

What are the long-term outcomes of subthalamic stimulation for the treatment of Parkinson disease (PD)?In this open label phase of a randomized, sham-controlled, double-blinded trial, 137 patients with moderate to advanced PD receiving subthalamic stimulation observed significant improvements in motor function, suppression of dyskinesia, improvements in activities of daily living, and a reduction in anti-parkinsonian medications that were sustained over the 5-year follow-up period.These findings suggest that subthalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective therapy for PD.

Corresponding Author: Jerrold L. Vitek, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, University of Minnesota, 420 Delaware St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (vitek004@umn.edu).

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