Transient Complete Resolution of Tourette Syndrome Symptoms Following Personalized Depth Electrode Placement

• Published in: Brain sciences Vol. 11; no. 12; p. 1559
• Main Authors: MacLean, Jennifer A, Ferman, Diana, Chu, Jason K, Liker, Mark A, Sanger, Terence D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 25-11-2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Case Report; Contraindications; Deep brain stimulation; Dystonia; EEG; Electrodes; General anesthesia; Gilles de la Tourette syndrome; Globus pallidus; Localization; Magnetic resonance imaging; Neurosurgery; Nucleus accumbens; Patients; pediatric; Recording equipment; stereo EEG; Surgery; targeting; Tourette syndrome; Minneapolis Minnesota; United States > US; targeting; Tourette syndrome; stereo EEG; deep brain stimulation; pediatric
• ISSN: 2076-3425; 2076-3425
• DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11121559

Treatment refractory Tourette syndrome has been shown to be improved with deep brain stimulation, but with multiple possible stimulation locations and variable and incomplete benefit. This study presents a single case of complete amelioration of motor and verbal tics in a patient with Tourette syndrome during placement of 12 stereo-EEG electrodes to identify optimal targets for permanent stimulating electrodes. Subsequently, substantial improvement in motor and verbal tic frequency occurred with placement and programming of permanent electrodes in bilateral globus pallidus internus and nucleus accumbens, but without the complete resolution seen during depth electrode placement. We suggest that simultaneous stimulation at multiple patient-specific targets could provide effective control of Tourette symptomatology, but further study will be needed.