Background: Deep brain stimulation is an established symptomatic treatment of movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, tremor conditions and dystonia when medical treatment fails. We here present a review of indications and results for this treatment. We also present data om the activity related to patients with Parkinson's disease in a representative year and data on implantations performed Rikshospitalet University Hospital in the period 1999-2007.
Material and methods: The manuscript is based on non-systematic searches in PubMed, clinical experience, and internal statistics on implantations and clinical visits carried out at our centre.
Results and interpretation: 243 procedures were performed in our clinic in the period; 187 for Parkinson's disease, 37 for tremor and 19 for dystonia. The vast majority of patients have been implanted with bilateral electrodes, and the targets were the subthalamic nucleus, the thalamus and the internal segment of globus pallidus. Studies have demonstrated that deep brain stimulation is an effective treatment of selected patients with Parkinson's disease, tremors and primary dystonia. Many of these patients have no other efficient treatment options. Patients should be referred for preoperative assessment when symptoms of their movement disorder can no longer be treated sufficiently with medical therapies and when their quality of life is impaired. A broad and careful evaluation of patients' symptoms and findings is important for correct patient selection for this treatment.