Article
Local field potentials as an intraoperative targeting tool for deep brain stimulation surgery in Parkinson's disease
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Published: | September 16, 2010 |
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Objective: Extraoperative studies of local field potentials (LFP) activity in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients suggest that exaggerated beta band oscillatory activity is a typical pathological correlate for the neurological impairment of these patients. We investigated the possibility of using intraoperative LFPs as a method to specify regions within the STN during deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery.
Methods: During the course of STN-DBS in 10 awake PD patients both single unit activity and intraoperative LFPs were recorded after overnight withdrawal of dopaminergic medication. A mean of three different trajectories was examined in each case. Electrophysiological data was acquired on a length of 10 mm in the target region followed by a spectral analysis of the LFPs. The borders of the STN were defined by single unit discharge patterns.
Results: In all cases, intraoperative LFPs could be recorded successfully showing a characteristic beta band oscillatory activity within the STN in concordance with the nucleus position indicated by single unit activity. The highest power increase of the beta band was found within a circumscribed region of each individual STN defined by the trajectory and depth of the electrode position.
Conclusions: LFPs are a potentially powerful tool for intraoperative targeting in STN-DBS surgery by providing pathologically specific and complimentary information to single unit discharge characteristics.