Experience Reduces Surgical and Hardware-Related Complications of Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery: A Single-Center Study of 181 Patients Operated in Six Years

Abstract EN

Objective.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery has increasingly been performed for the treatment of movement disorders and is associated with a wide array of complications.

We aimed to present our experience and discuss strategies to minimize adverse events in light of this contemporary series and others in the literature.

Methods.

A retrospective chart review was conducted to collect data on age, sex, indication, operation date, surgical technique, and perioperative and late complications.

Results.

A total of 181 patients (113 males, 68 females) underwent DBS implantation surgery (359 leads) in the past six years.

Indications and targets were as follows: Parkinson’s disease (STN) (n=159), dystonia (GPi) (n=13), and essential tremor (Vim) (n=9).

Mean age was 55.2 ± 11.7 (range 9–74) years.

Mean follow-up duration was 3.4 ± 1.6 years.

No mortality or permanent morbidity was observed.

Major perioperative complications were confusion (6.6%), intracerebral hemorrhage (2.2%), stroke (1.1%), and seizures (1.1%).

Long-term adverse events included wound (7.2%), mostly infection, and hardware-related (5.5%) complications.

Among several factors, only surgical experience was found to be related with overall complication rates (early period: 31% versus late period: 10%; p=0.001).

Conclusion.

The rates of both early and late complications of DBS surgery are acceptably low and decrease significantly with cumulative experience.