The impact of subthalamic deep brain stimulation on polysomnographic sleep pattern in patients with Parkinson's disease – Preliminary report

Abstract

Aim of the studyWe present the preliminary results of the study focused on the impact of subthalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS-STN) on sleep and other non-motor symptoms (NMS). Materials and methodsTen patients with advanced PD, underwent two-night polysomnography (PSG) mean 1.1 week before surgery and 6.2 months post DBS programming. NMS were assessed with a set of scales before surgery and 6 months and 12 months following DBS programming. ResultsContrary to previous studies, we noted deterioration of sleep pattern in the follow-up PSG. We found a decrease in total sleep time, duration of the stage N2, with prolongation of stage N1 and wakefulness after sleep onset. We did not detect any impact of DBS-STN on subjective severity of restless legs syndrome. REM – sleep behavior disorder, however reported was not observed in any patient during PSG evaluations. We also found statistically significant correlations between severity of sleep disturbances and quality of life, as well as, between severity of motor symptoms and worse objective sleep quality. ConclusionsWe found that DBS-STN improved quality of life, subjective quality of sleep and sleepiness, however, contrary to the previous studies the objective parameters of sleep worsened after the surgery.