Congratulations to Drs. Filipe Sarmento, Venkat Srikar Lavu, Tiberio de Araújo, Sina Aghili Mehrizi, Justin D. Hilliard, Michael S. Okun and Joshua K. Wong, on the publication of “Motor outcomes in unilateral, bilateral rapid, and bilateral delayed staging deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease,” which appears in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease,
Deep brain stimulation is a surgical treatment that helps manage motor symptoms in select people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, the best timing for surgery and whether it’s better to have DBS implanted on one side of the brain (unilateral) or both sides (bilateral) from the beginning are still unclear. This study compared the effects of unilateral and bilateral DBS on movement problems in 180 PD patients. The patients were divided into three groups: 90 had DBS on one side, and 90 had DBS on both sides implanted in a staged manner, either quickly (named bilateral rapid, with surgeries
done less than 2 months apart) or more slowly (named bilateral staged, with surgeries done 5–11 months apart).
We measured their movement problems using a standard motor assessment after surgery at two different times: 3–6 months and 10–14 months; and we compared that to their baseline scores. We found that all groups showed significant improvement in their movement problems after DBS. There were no major differences in improvement between those who had one side done and those who had both sides done, whether quickly or slowly, up to 14 months after surgery. In conclusion, DBS, whether done on one side or both sides of the brain and regardless of the timing of staging between surgeries, significantly improved movement problems in PD patients for up to 14 months after surgery.