Long-term effects of bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation on gait disorders in Parkinson’s disease: a clinical-instrumental study

Objective: To assess the long-term effects of bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) on gait in a cohort of advanced Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients. Methods: This observational study included consecutive PD patients treated with bilateral STN-DBS. Different stimulation and drug treatment conditions were assessed: on-stimulation/off-medication, off-stimulation/off-medication, and on-stimulation/on-medication. Each patient performed the instrumented Timed Up and Go test (iTUG). The instrumental evaluation of walking ability was carried out with a wearable inertial sensor containing a three-dimensional (3D) accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer. This device could provide 3D linear acceleration, angular velocity, and magnetic field vector. Disease motor severity was evaluated with the total score and subscores of the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale part III. Results: Twenty-five PD patients with a 5-years median follow-up after surgery (range 3–7) were included (18 men; mean disease duration at surgery 10.44 ± 4.62 years; mean age at surgery 58.40 ± 5.73 years). Both stimulation and medication reduced the total duration of the iTUG and most of its different phases, suggesting a long-term beneficial effect on gait after surgery. However, comparing the two treatments, dopaminergic therapy had a more marked effect in all test phases. STN-DBS alone reduced total iTUG duration, sit-to-stand, and second turn phases duration, while it had a lower effect on stand-to-sit, first turn, forward walking, and walking backward phases duration. Conclusions: This study highlighted that in the long-term after surgery, STN-DBS may contribute to gait and postural control improvement when used together with dopamine replacement therapy, which still shows a substantial beneficial effect.