Jay Alberts, PhD, Assistant Staff, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, discusses findings of deep brain stimulation research, which demonstrated that cognitive performance and motor tasks were worse under bilateral stimulation. This has implications for starting implanting patients in a staged manner, beginning with unilateral stimulation.

Summary:
Deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s Disease has shown better results for cognitive and motor performance with unilateral rather than bilateral stimulation.

References and Resources
Novak P, Klemp JA, Ridings LW, Lyons KE, Pahwa R, Nazzaro JM. Effect of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus upon the contralateral subthalamic nucleus in Parkinson disease. Neurosci Lett. 2009 Sep 29;463(1):12-6. Epub 2009 Jul 16.
Esselink RA, de Bie RM, de Haan RJ, Lenders MW, Nijssen PC, van Laar T, Schuurman PR, Bosch DA, Speelman JD. Long-term superiority of subthalamic nucleus stimulation over pallidotomy in Parkinson disease. Neurology. 2009 Jul 14;73(2):151-3.
Okun MS, Foote KD. Enough is enough: moving on to deep brain stimulation in patients with fluctuating Parkinson disease. Arch Neurol. 2009 Jun;66(6):778-80.

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