Cognitive outcome of pallidal deep brain stimulation for primary cervical dystonia: One year follow up results of a prospective multicenter trial

Lars Dinkelbach; Joerg Mueller; Werner Poewe; Margarete Delazer; Saskia Elben; Alexander Wolters; Elfriede Karner; Matthias Wittstock; Reiner Benecke; Alfons Schnitzler; Jens Volkmann; Martin Südmeyer

doi:10.1016/j.parkreldis.2015.06.002

Cognitive outcome of pallidal deep brain stimulation for primary cervical dystonia: One year follow up results of a prospective multicenter trial

Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2015 Aug;21(8):976-80. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2015.06.002. Epub 2015 Jun 4.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology and Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Heinrich Heine University, Duesseldorf, Germany.
² Department of Neurology, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria; Department of Neurology, Vivantes Klinikum Spandau, Berlin, Germany.
³ Department of Neurology, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
⁴ Department of Neurology, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany.
⁵ Department of Neurology, University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany.
⁶ Department of Neurology and Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Heinrich Heine University, Duesseldorf, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 26074391
DOI: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2015.06.002

Abstract

Background: Pallidal deep brain stimulation (DBS) is effective in alleviating motor symptoms of medication refractory cervical dystonia, but little is known about effects on cognitive functions.

Methods: As part of the first randomized, sham-controlled multicenter trial on DBS in medication-refractory primary cervical dystonia (ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00148889), a subgroup of 13 patients aged 39 to 69 underwent prospective neuropsychological long-term follow-up assessments. Various cognitive domains (memory, executive functions, attention, visual perception, mental arithmetic and verbal intelligence) were examined before and after 12 months of continuous DBS.

Results: Only the number of produced words in a verbal fluency task which included alternating categories decreased after stimulation (p = 0.020). All other cognitive domains remained unchanged.

Conclusions: These findings indicate that long-term pallidal DBS for the treatment of primary cervical dystonia seems to be safe regarding global cognitive functioning.

Keywords: Cervical dystonia; Cognition; Deep brain stimulation (DBS); Globus pallidus pars interna; Spasmodic torticollis.

Publication types

Multicenter Study
Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Cognition / physiology*
Cognition Disorders / etiology
Deep Brain Stimulation / adverse effects*
Deep Brain Stimulation / methods
Dystonia / congenital*
Dystonia / surgery
Dystonia / therapy
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Globus Pallidus / surgery
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Outcome Assessment, Health Care*
Prospective Studies

Supplementary concepts

Cervical Dystonia, Primary

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT00148889