Subthalamic Deep Brain Stimulation under General Anaesthesia for Parkinson's Disease: Institutional Experience and Outcomes.

Abstract

Introduction: Direct targeting in deep brain stimulation (DBS) has remarkably impacted the patient's experience throughout the surgery and the overall logistics of the procedure. When the individualised plan is co-registered with a 3D image acquired intraoperatively, the electrodes can be safely placed under general anaesthesia. How this applies to a general practice scenery (outside clinical trials and in a moderate caseload centre) has been scarcely reported.

Methods: Prospective single-centre study of patients treated with asleep subthalamic DBS for Parkinson's disease between January 2021 and December 2022. Clinical, motor, medication-dependence and quality-of-life outcomes were evaluated after optimal programming (6 months). Wilcoxon test was used to compare pre- versus post-repeated measures. Surgical-related parameters were also analysed.

Results: 89 patients primarily operated for DBS were included in the study. Intraoperative electrode replacement was not necessary. Mean surgical duration was 217 (SD 44) minutes, including the implantation of the generator; and mean length of stay was 3 (SD 1) days. There was one surgical-related complication (delayed infection). Significant and clinically relevant improvement was seen in UPRS III (mean decrease 62%) (p<0.001) and PDQ-8 (50% increase) (p<0.001) after 6 months. Daily doses of medication were decreased by a mean of 68%, p<0.001).

Conclusion: DBS can be safely performed under general anaesthesia in a pragmatic clinical environment, provided a multidisciplinary committee for patient selection and a dedicated surgical and anaesthetic team are available. The effectiveness in ameliorating motor symptoms, the ability to reduce the drug load, and the improvement in quality of life demonstrated in clinical trials could be reproduced under more generalised conditions as in our centre. The need for a team learning curve and the progressive evolution in, and adaptation to, trajectory planning software, anaesthetic management, intraoperative imaging, DBS device upgrades and programming schemes should be contemplated in the transition process to direct targeting.