Deep Brain Stimulation for Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease Deep brain stimulation, Parkinson’s disease, subthalamic nucleus, stereotactic surgery

With the evolution of deep brain stimulation (DBS), stereotactic operative treatment of drug resistant Parkinson’s Disease experiences a renaissance. Refined operative techniques using computerized image-fusion programs, intraoperative microrecording and macrostimulation have made the targeting of the region of interest easier. Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus is able to reduce major symptoms as tremor, rigor and bradykinesia. Short and middle-term as well as long-term studies have confirmed these results.The rate of intraand perioperative complications is around 1-2%. However, during the follow-up period hardware-related complications can increase to 4-20%. This is an overview about history, indications, operative technique and results of deep brain stimulation based on the actual literature.