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Objective: To determine the postoperative attempted and completed suicide rates after subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) in a single-center cohort and to determine factors associated with attempted and completed suicide., Methods: We retrospectively included all patients with Parkinson disease (PD) who underwent bilateral STN-DBS surgery at the Grenoble University Hospital between 1993 and 2016. For each patient who committed or attempted suicide, 2 patients with PD with STN-DBS without any suicidal behaviors were matched for age (±1 year), sex, and year of surgery (±2 years). Clinical data were collected from medical records. Detailed preoperative and postoperative neuropsychological evaluations, including frontal and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores, were gathered., Results: A total of 534 patients with PD were included. Completed and attempted suicide percentages were 0.75% (4 of 534) and 4.11% (22 of 534), respectively. The observed suicide rate in the first postoperative year (187.20 of 100,000 per year, 1 of 534) was higher than the expected National Observatory on Suicide Risks rate adjusted for age and sex (standardized mortality ratio 8.1). This rate remained similar over the second and third postoperative years. In a comparison of the 26 patients completing/attempting suicide and the 52 controls, the first group showed more frequent history of suicidal ideation/suicide attempts and psychotic symptoms, higher percentage of family psychiatric history, higher psychiatric medication use, and higher preoperative frontal and BDI scores on neuropsychological evaluations., Conclusions: Suicide behaviors can occur after STN-DBS, especially during the first 3 years. A careful multidisciplinary assessment and long-term follow-up are recommended to recognize and treat this potentially preventable risk for mortality., (© 2019 American Academy of Neurology.)

Objective: To report on the long-term outcomes of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the thalamic ventral intermediate nucleus (VIM) in Parkinson disease (PD), essential tremor (ET), and dystonic tremor., Methods: One hundred fifty-nine patients with PD, ET, and dystonia underwent VIM DBS due to refractory tremor at the Grenoble University Hospital. The primary outcome was a change in the tremor scores at 1 year after surgery and at the latest follow-up (21 years). Secondary outcomes included the relationship between tremor score reduction over time and the active contact position. Tremor scores (Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-III, items 20 and 21; Fahn, Tolosa, Marin Tremor Rating Scale) and the coordinates of the active contacts were recorded., Results: Ninety-eight patients were included. Patients with PD and ET had sustained improvement in tremor with VIM stimulation (mean improvement, 70% and 66% at 1 year; 63% and 48% beyond 10 years, respectively; p < 0.05). There was no significant loss of stimulation benefit over time ( p > 0.05). Patients with dystonia exhibited a moderate response at 1-year follow-up (41% tremor improvement, p = 0.027), which was not sustained after 5 years (30% improvement, p = 0.109). The more dorsal active contacts' coordinates in the right lead were related to a better outcome 1 year after surgery ( p = 0.029). During the whole follow-up, forty-eight patients (49%) experienced minor side effects, whereas 2 (2.0%) had serious events (brain hemorrhage and infection)., Conclusions: VIM DBS is an effective long-term (beyond 10 years) treatment for tremor in PD and ET. Effects on dystonic tremor were modest and transient., Classification of Evidence: This provides Class IV evidence. It is an observational study., (© 2017 American Academy of Neurology.)

Objective: To assess the efficacy of epidural motor cortex stimulation (MCS) on dystonia, spasticity, pain, and quality of life in patients with dystonia secondary to a focal basal ganglia (BG) lesion., Methods: In this double-blind, crossover, multicenter study, 5 patients with dystonia secondary to a focal BG lesion were included. Two quadripolar leads were implanted epidurally over the primary motor (M1) and premotor cortices, contralateral to the most dystonic side. The leads were placed parallel to the central sulcus. Only the posterior lead over M1 was activated in this study. The most lateral or medial contact of the lead (depending on whether the dystonia predominated in the upper or lower limb) was selected as the anode, and the other 3 as cathodes. One month postoperatively, patients were randomly assigned to on- or off-stimulation for 3 months each, with a 1-month washout between the 2 conditions. Voltage, frequency, and pulse width were fixed at 3.8 V, 40 Hz, and 60 μs, respectively. Evaluations of dystonia (Burke-Fahn-Marsden Scale), spasticity (Ashworth score), pain intensity (visual analog scale), and quality of life (36-Item Short Form Health Survey) were performed before surgery and after each period of stimulation., Results: Burke-Fahn-Marsden Scale, Ashworth score, pain intensity, and quality of life were not statistically significantly modified by MCS., Conclusions: Bipolar epidural MCS failed to improve any clinical feature in dystonia secondary to a focal BG lesion., Classification of Evidence: This study provides Class I evidence that bipolar epidural MCS with the anode placed over the motor representation of the most affected limb failed to improve any clinical feature in dystonia secondary to a focal BG lesion.

STN-HFS is well known to improve patients with IPD. Because off-period dystonia mimics focal or generalized dystonia of other causes, we proposed bilateral STN-HFS to some patients with generalized dystonia. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of STN stimulation on off-period dystonia and generalized dystonia. From a larger series of patients with IPD, we selected 22 patients based on the presence of severe preoperative off-period dystonia rated > or = 3 in least one limb on a severity score ranging from 0 to 4. Four patients with generalized dystonia (Hallervorden-Spatz disease, n = 3; primary, n = 1) underwent bilateral STN-HFS. Dystonia of the four limbs was rated on video recordings in all patients before surgery and 3 months after surgery. In IPD, bilateral STN stimulation reduced the severity of off-period dystonia by 70% on the four limbs (preoperative mean severity score = 2.03 +/- 1.49; postoperative mean severity score = 0.60 +/- 0.78). In contrast, bilateral STN-HFS had no effect on generalized dystonia (preoperative mean severity score = 3.25 +/- 0.77; postoperative mean severity score = 3.12 +/- 0.62). Despite clinical similarities between off-period dystonia in Parkinson's disease and generalized dystonia in certain cases, the effect of chronic bilateral STN-HFS differs. STN stimulation is highly effective in off-period dystonia of IPD, whereas it does not improve generalized dystonia. The pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying dystonia in these two disorders are still unknown. Assuming that the mechanism of action of STN-HFS is similar regardless of the cause of dystonia, our findings suggest that the STN is not similarly involved in off-period dystonia of IPD and others dystonias.