Session Information
Date: Saturday, October 6, 2018
Session Title: Surgical Therapy: Parkinson's Disease
Session Time: 1:45pm-3:15pm
Location: Hall 3FG
Objective: Patients with PD frequently complain of losing abilitiy to swim. Our aim was to test the swimming abilities of our patients with bilateral STN-DBS in “on” and “off” condition.
Background: There was a recent report of a patient who had implanted electordes in zona incerta and was in danger of drawning when the stimuation was »on« (1).
Methods: We included 6 patients with STN-DBS. All af them were swimmers before the operation. The study was perforemd in a 25m swimming pool in our rehabilitaition facility. The patients were instructed to swim breaststroke two lenghts of the pool. The test was performed with the stimulation »on« and »off«. We measured the time and the number of swimming interruptions during the swimming task. All the patients were kept on their individual oral medications. MDS-UPDRS III was measured in both conditions.
Results: All patients had a significant increase in MDS-UPDRS III score with DBS switched off (mean absolute difference of 30.8 points). Swim time also significantly increased between “on” and “off”” condition (mean absolute difference 35.6 seconds for two lengths of the pool). One of 6 patients had three interruptions during the swimming task, but only when the stimulation was “off”. Asymmetric strokes and reduced stroke amplitude was observed on the more affected side, more pronounced when the stimulation was “off”.
Conclusions: STN-DBS stimulation did not worsen swimming abbilities in our group of 6 patients. On the contrary, swimming time was shorter when the stimulation was »on«. One patient was forced to interrup swimming when the stimulation was »off« during the short distance swimming task. Swimming can still pose a life threat to PD patients, especially when swimming in a deep water without proper surveilance. Larger study is needed and is ongoing.
References: 1.Bangash OK, Thorburn M, Garcia-Vega J et al.. Drawning hazard with deep brain stimulation: case report. J Neurosurg. 2016 May;124(5):1513-6.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
D. Flisar, S. Ibrulj, M. Trošt, M. Benedičič, P. Mušič, S. Korelc, K. Groleger Sršen. Swimming in PD patients with STN-DBS: A pilot exploratory study [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2018; 33 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/swimming-in-pd-patients-with-stn-dbs-a-pilot-exploratory-study/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to 2018 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/swimming-in-pd-patients-with-stn-dbs-a-pilot-exploratory-study/