Thalamotomy for Essential Tremor: A Very Long-Term Follow-Up (original) (raw)
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Long-Term Patient-Reported Outcome of Radiofrequency Thalamotomy for Tremor
Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery
Background: Thalamotomy is an endorsed treatment for medication-refractory tremor. It used to be the standard, but nowadays deep brain stimulation (DBS) has become the treatment option of choice. Nevertheless, DBS has the disadvantage of hardware failure, battery replacement, and frequent setting adjustment. Radiofrequency (RF) thalamotomy lacks these issues, is relatively inexpensive, and has a broad applicability in patients with significant comorbidity. Therefore, we analyzed the long-term patient-reported outcome of RF thalamotomy in a cohort of patients with an otherwise intractable tremor. Methods: A single-center cohort of 27 consecutive patients with intractable tremor was assessed after unilateral RF thalamotomy. Over time, 4 patients had died because of non-related causes. In total, 21 patients responded to a telephone survey to assess their personal judgment on postoperative tremor severity, using a validated tremor scale, adverse events, recurrence, and patient satisfaction. The median time between surgery and telephone survey was 39 months (range 12-126). Seven patients had an additional analysis with postoperative imaging, video-assisted electromyography tremor registration, and a self-reported treatment effect (SRTE) assessment. Results: Nineteen out of 21 patients (90.5%) reported absence or significant improvement of their tremor. The rating score (WHIGET/ UPDRS-III) dropped significantly from a mean of 3.57 preoperatively to 1.05 postoperatively (p < 0.001). Eleven patients (52.4%) reported adverse events, but the majority (76.2%) did not consider the adverse events to be severe. SRTE assessment showed a direct postoperative effect of 89.6 of 100 points (SD 10.8), with a gradual decrease to 75.3 (SD 23.5) during follow-up. Conclusions: RF thalamotomy is a very effective long-term treatment for medication-refractory tremor and should therefore be considered in patients with a refractory unilateral tremor.
Neurosurgery, 2001
OBJECTIVE We studied outcome measures after unilateral and bilateral thalamic stimulation to treat disabling tremor resulting from essential tremor and Parkinson's disease. The surgical technique, qualitative and quantitative tremor assessments, stimulation parameters, locations of active electrodes, complications, and side effects are described and analyzed. METHODS Forty-one patients with essential tremor or Parkinson's disease underwent implantation of 56 thalamic stimulators. Preoperative qualitative and quantitative tremor measurements were compared with those obtained after unilateral and bilateral surgery, with activated and deactivated stimulators. Stimulation parameters and stimulation-related side effects were recorded, and outcome measures were statistically analyzed. RESULTS Qualitative measurements demonstrated significant improvement of contralateral upper-limb (P < 0.001), lower-limb (P < 0.01), and midline (P < 0.001) tremors after unilateral surgery...
Thalamic Deep Brain Stimulation in Essential Tremor Plus Is as Effective as in Essential Tremor
Brain Sciences
The new essential tremor (ET) classification defined ET-plus (ET-p) as an ET subgroup with additional neurological signs besides action tremor. While deep brain stimulation (DBS) is effective in ET, there are no studies specifically addressing DBS effects in ET-p. 44 patients with medication-refractory ET and thalamic/subthalamic DBS implanted at our center were postoperatively classified into ET and ET-p according to preoperative documentation. Tremor suppression with DBS (stimulation ON vs. preoperative baseline and vs. stimulation OFF), measured via the Fahn–Tolosa–Marin tremor rating scale (TRS), stimulation parameters, and the location of active contacts were compared between patients classified as ET and ET-p. TRS scores at baseline were higher in ET-p. ET-p patients showed comparable tremor reduction as patients with ET, albeit higher stimulation parameters were needed in ET-p. Active electrode contacts were located more dorsally in ET-p of uncertain reason. Our data show tha...
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 2002
Objectives: To evaluate the impact of thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) on disability and healthrelated quality of life in patients with essential tremor. Methods: Twenty seven consecutive patients were evaluated prospectively, before surgery and at a mean of 12 months (range 6-26) after thalamic DBS. Assessment tools included the Fahn-Tolosa-Marìn tremor rating scale (TRS), activities of daily living (ADL) taxonomy, Nottingham health profile (NHP) and the visual analogue scale (VAS) for measuring impact of disease on life. Additional information on the side effects of, and expectations from surgery was obtained by interview. Results: Thalamic DBS improved the ability of the patients in eating, drinking, writing, home maintenance, hobbies, and participation in society. Activities of daily life requiring bimanual skills were less improved. The emotional condition of the patients was positively affected and the negative impact of the disease on life as a whole, and on social life was decreased. Seventy per cent of the patients considered that the surgical treatment met their expectations. Conclusions: After thalamic DBS, health-related quality of life including disability in ADL and social life were improved in patients with essential tremor.
Thalamotomy as a Treatment Option for Tremor after Ineffective Deep Brain Stimulation
Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, 2013
3 patients reported improvement in symptoms that were not reflected in functional improvement, and 1 patient reported no improvement in symptoms or function. Conclusion: Thalamotomy may provide a viable salvage solution in patients who fail to respond to DBS due to complications such as malpositioned electrodes, tolerance to stimulation or loss of efficacy.
Multicentre European study of thalamic stimulation in essential tremor
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 2003
Background: Thalamic stimulation is an efficient treatment for disabling essential tremor, as previously shown, but follow up has mostly been short term. Objectives: To see whether good results can be maintained in the longer term. Methods: 37 patients with essential tremor had implantation of a thalamic stimulator, either unilaterally or bilaterally. The results at one year have been reported earlier. After six years, 19 patients were available for follow up. The main instrument for evaluation was the essential tremor rating scale. The patients were examined with pulse generators turned on and off. Results: In the majority of patients, the very good results with stimulation seen at one year were maintained after a mean of 6.5 years. The reduction in tremor scores and improvement in activities of daily living were highly significant compared with baseline and with the stimulation turned off. There were few serious adverse events. Minor side effects related to stimulation were common. Few device related complications were observed and most could be resolved. Conclusions: Good reduction in tremor can be maintained for more than six years in the majority of these severely disabled patients. Thalamic stimulation can be recommended in essential tremor where there is insufficient response to drug treatment. Surgical procedures and follow up should be concentrated in relatively few centres, which will thereby acquire a high degree of expertise.
Sustained Medication Reduction Following Unilateral VIM Thalamic Stimulation for Essential Tremor
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an increasingly utilized therapeutic modality for the management of medication refractory essential tremor (ET). The aim of this study was to determine whether DBS allowed for anti-tremor medication reduction within the year after the procedure was performed. We conducted a retrospective chart review and telephone interviews on 34 consecutive patients who had been diagnosed with ET, and who had undergone unilateral DBS surgery. Of the 34 patients in our cohort, 31 patients (91%) completely stopped all anti-tremor medications either before surgery (21 patients, 62%) or in the year following DBS surgery (10 patients, 29%). Patients who discontinued tremor medications before DBS surgery did so because their tremors either became refractory to anti-tremor medication, or they developed adverse events to tremor medications. Patients who stopped tremor medications after DBS surgery did so due to sufficient tremor control. Only three patients (9%) who were ta...