Deep brain stimulation for tremor resulting from acquired brain injury.

Abstract

To evaluate the efficacy of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the treatment of tremor resulting from acquired brain injury (ABI). A series of eight consecutive patients with post-ABI tremor were treated with DBS of the ventro-oralis posterior (VOP)/zona incerta (ZI) region, and subsequently underwent blinded assessments using Bain's tremor severity scale. VOP/ZI DBS produced a mean reduction in tremor severity of 80.75% based on Bain's tremor severity scale, with significant reductions in all five component tremor subscores: rest, postural, kinetic, proximal and distal. No adverse neurological complications were reported, although one patient experienced exacerbation of pre-existing gait ataxia. VOP/ZI stimulation is demonstrated here to be an effective and safe approach for the treatment of post-ABI tremor in the largest series published at the time of writing.