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Background: Patients with dyskinetic cerebral palsy are often severely impaired with limited treatment options. The effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) are less pronounced than those in inherited dystonia but can be associated with favorable quality of life outcomes even in patients without changes in dystonia severity., Objective: The aim is to assess DBS effects in pediatric patients with pharmacorefractory dyskinetic cerebral palsy with focus on quality of life., Methods: The method used is a prospective, single-arm, multicenter study. The primary endpoint is improvement in quality of life (CPCHILD [Caregiver Priorities & Child Health Index of Life with Disabilities]) from baseline to 12 months under therapeutic stimulation. The main key secondary outcomes are changes in Burke-Fahn-Marsden Dystonia Rating Scale, Dyskinesia Impairment Scale, Gross Motor Function Measure-66, Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), and Short-Form (SF)-36. After 12 months, patients were randomly assigned to a blinded crossover to receive active or sham stimulation for 24 hours each. Severity of dystonia and chorea were blindly rated. Safety was assessed throughout. The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02097693., Results: Sixteen patients (age: 13.4 ± 2.9 years) were recruited by seven clinical sites. Primary outcome at 12-month follow-up is as follows: mean CPCHILD increased by 4.2 ± 10.4 points (95% CI [confidence interval] -1.3 to 9.7; P = 0.125); among secondary outcomes: improvement in COPM performance measure of 1.1 ± 1.5 points (95% CI 0.2 to 1.9; P = 0.02) and in the SF-36 physical health component by 5.1 ± 6.2 points (95% CI 0.7 to 9.6; P = 0.028). Otherwise, there are no significant changes., Conclusion: Evidence to recommend DBS as routine treatment to improve quality of life in pediatric patients with dyskinetic cerebral palsy is not yet sufficient. Extended follow-up in larger cohorts will determine the impact of DBS further to guide treatment decisions in these often severely disabled patients. © 2021 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society., (© 2021 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.)

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate whether directional deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus in Parkinson's disease (PD) offers increased therapeutic windows, side-effect thresholds, and clinical benefit., Methods: In 10 patients, 20 monopolar reviews were conducted in a prospective, randomized, double-blind design to identify the best stimulation directions and compare them to conventional circular DBS regarding side-effect thresholds, motor improvement, and therapeutic window. In addition, circular and best-directional DBS were directly compared in a short-term crossover. Motor outcome was also assessed after an open-label follow-up of 3 to 6 months., Results: Stimulation in the individual best direction resulted in significantly larger therapeutic windows, higher side-effect thresholds, and more improvement in hand rotation than circular DBS. Rigidity and finger tapping did not respond differentially to the stimulation conditions. There was no difference in motor efficacy or stimulation amplitudes between directional and circular DBS in the short-term crossover. Follow-up evaluations 3 to 6 months after implantation revealed improvements in motor outcome and medication reduction comparable to other DBS studies with a majority of patients remaining with a directional setting., Conclusion: Directional DBS can increase side-effect thresholds while achieving clinical benefit comparable to conventional DBS. Whether directional DBS improves long-term clinical outcome needs to be investigated in the future. © 2017 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society., (© 2017 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.)