Lower frequency deep brain stimulation effective treatment for dystonia

A Mount Sinai Medical Center study has found that lower frequency deep brain stimulation in young patients with primary torsion dystonia is as effective as higher frequency stimulation, which has been commonly used.

Michele Tagliati, M.D., Division Chief of Movement Disorders at Mount Sinai, and Ron Alterman, M.D., Director of Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery, led the team that evaluated the efficacy of lower frequency DBS in 15 patients with dystonia, a neurological movement disorder that causes the involuntary and sometimes painful contraction and spasm of muscles.

Published in the August issue of Neurology , the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, the findings suggest that the lower frequency will extend the battery life of brain stimulation devices, which are surgically implanted on either side of the chest wall. This means that patients will not require surgery to replace their batteries as often-- which had been as frequent as every two years.

“Our overall experience with DBS for dystonia at Mount Sinai is very positive, in particular for patients with primary dystonia,” Dr. Tagliati said. “We have implanted more than 60 dystonia patients, with improvements ranging from 50% to virtually 100%, in a disease that frequently benefits very little from pharmacological therapy.”

According to Dr. Alterman, “What's interesting about this study is that we changed only the frequency, not the voltage or pulse widths, so it is a true savings in energy and a very practical and real benefit for our patients.”

Dystonia patients (many of whom are children) treated at Mount Sinai and other institutions, will be the celebrated guests at a breakfast and Annual Symposium on Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease on Saturday, October 27, hosted by The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation and sponsored by Medtronics and Allergen. This reunion of the most successful dystonia program in the U.S., brings together Mount Sinai's patients and physicians for a day of education and discovery.

Drs. Tagliati and Alterman will present their findings and other recent advances in medical and surgical treatments including DBS. Other topics include gene therapy in Parkinson's disease, and the overlap between Parkinson's and dystonia.