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Bilateral thalamic deep brain stimulation for essential tremor in elderly patients

  • Neurology and Preclinical Neurological Studies - Short communication
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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of age on thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) in essential tremor (ET). Tremor, cognition, mood and adverse events in patients with thalamic DBS for ET were evaluated in 26 consecutive patients with established standardized methods for tremor and cognition. Twelve patients <70 and 14 patients ≥70 years were included and followed for 2 years. Clinical outcomes did not differ significantly. DBS seems to be safe and effective for ET independent of age.

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Fig. 1

Abbreviations

ADL:

Bain and Findley activities of daily living

BDI-II:

Beck’s Depression Inventory II

DBS:

Deep brain stimulation

ET:

Essential tremor

FAB:

Frontal assessment battery

MDRS:

Mattis Dementia Rating Scale

QUEST:

Quality of Life in Essential Tremor Questionnaire

TRS:

Fahn–Tolosa–Marin Tremor Rating Score

VIM:

Ventral intermediate nucleus of the thalamus

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Author notes

  1. Johann Klein and Lars Büntjen have contributed equally as first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Stereotactic Neurosurgery, University Hospital Magdeburg, Leipziger Strasse 44, 39120, Magdeburg, Germany

    Johann Klein, Lars Büntjen, Gerrit Jacobi, Patricia Panther, Jürgen Voges & Andreas Kupsch

  2. Department of Neurology, University Hospital Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany

    Imke Galazky, Tino Zaehle, Jörn Kaufmann, Hans-Jochen Heinze & Andreas Kupsch

  3. Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technical University Dresden, Fetscherstrasse 74, 01307, Dresden, Germany

    Johann Klein

  4. Neurology Moves, Bismarckstr. 45-47, 10627, Berlin, Germany

    Andreas Kupsch

  5. LIN-Leibniz Institute of Neurobiology Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany

    Hans-Jochen Heinze & Jürgen Voges

Authors
  1. Johann Klein
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  2. Lars Büntjen
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  3. Gerrit Jacobi
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  4. Imke Galazky
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  5. Patricia Panther
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  6. Tino Zaehle
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  7. Jörn Kaufmann
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  8. Hans-Jochen Heinze
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  9. Jürgen Voges
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  10. Andreas Kupsch
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Johann Klein, Lars Büntjen or Andreas Kupsch.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

702_2017_1741_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Suppl. Figure 1: Cognitive development as measured by the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) and mood as assessed by Beck’s Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) showed no statistically significant changes after surgery. A marked numerical improvement of depressive symptoms in elderly patients was noticed. (PDF 180 kb)

702_2017_1741_MOESM2_ESM.doc

Suppl. Table 1: Stimulation-related adverse events in both groups. Dysarthria was more common in elderly patients. (DOC 29 kb)

Suppl. Table 2: medication prior to surgery (DOC 32 kb)

Suppl. Table 3: Literature addressing association of age and DBS outcome in ET. (DOC 34 kb)

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Klein, J., Büntjen, L., Jacobi, G. et al. Bilateral thalamic deep brain stimulation for essential tremor in elderly patients. J Neural Transm 124, 1093–1096 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-017-1741-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-017-1741-8

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