Bilateral Implantation In Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) occurs in 1 to 2% of the people over 60 years, and estimated costs of drug treatment are about 1,000 to 6,000 dollars per patient per year1. Subthalamic deep brain stimulation (STN DBS) is a now commonly used method in which two electrodes are implanted in a patient’s subthalamic nuclei to decrease the motor symptoms and instabilities of the medication in PD. Usually there are two electrodes implanted, one in each hemisphere, even though PD occurs asymmetrically. That would make it logical to think that a unilateral implantation could be successful as well2. Bilateral implantations have shown more decrease of the motor symptoms and can often be implanted in one procedure, but are related to more cognitive impairment.