Deep brain stimulation, commonly known as DBS, is a type of functional neurosurgery and is an important therapeutic option for certain movement disorders. So far, we have performed over 100 DBS surgeries for various common as well as uncommon indications. Advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most common indication at our centre followed by generalized dystonia Essential tremor (ET). Subthalamic nucleus DBS (STN-DBS) is the most often used target at our centre followed by Globus Pallidus interna (GPi-DBS) and ventral intermedius nucleus of thalamus (ViM-DBS). The team has expertise in handling both Medtronic® (both Activa PC and Activa RC devices) and Boston Scientific® (VerciseTM) devices.
Patients who are considered for DBS will be admitted for comprehensive pre-surgical evaluation by our multi-disciplinary team comprising of neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, neuropsychology, and speech pathology departments. The patient will be evaluated and investigated for suitability of candidacy for DBS. Additional, the patient and their care giver will be counselled regarding the benefits and risks of the procedure, why it is being considered, what are the other alternative, what to expect during and after the DBS procedure. The DBS surgery is done as a two staged single day procedure. First stage involves lead placement which is done in awake state in patients with PD and ET and under general anaesthesia in cases of dystonia. We also use micro electrode recording and on table response assessment to stimulation before placing the permanent lead. The second stage under general anaesthesia involving battery placement and connecting electrode to the battery. The patient will be discharged after 5-7 days of surgery and will be called for post-surgery DBS programming and medication adjustment.
