Objective: Deep Brain Stimulation（DBS）tele-programming technique has been available for several years in China, which mainly served as a complementary approach to routine DBS treatment and care. Here, we describe the use and value of DBS tele-programming during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Background: Elderly patients treated with DBS for Parkinson’s disease suffer from motor symptoms and deficits in mobility, which complicate repeat DBS adjustment visits to their hospital, particularly since preventive measures against the COVID-19 outbreak have been implemented (e.g. traffic control, home quarantine).

Method: We report the data collected in six hospitals that are equipped with a DBS remote programming technique (SceneRay, Suzhou China) in the last three months of 2019(before COVID-19) and the first working month after 2020 Chinese new year.

Results: All six centers witnessed increased health service requests by patients with Parkinson’s disease during the COVID-19 outbreak with a total number of 44 cases in February 2020 alone, which equaled to the number of the last three months of 2019 combined. The most common reasons were suboptimal control of symptoms, progression of symptoms, and first programming session. Almost all patients canceled their outpatient control visits, which far outnumbered the number of cancellations made by patients treated with DBS tele-programming.

Conclusion: DBS tele-programming plays a significant role in the management of Parkinson’s disease during the COVID-19 outbreak. Substantial additional efforts are needed to improve this technique for clinical care, particularly its integration with other mobile health technologies, such as artificial intelligence-based subjective symptom assessment.

References: [1] Li D, Zhang C, Gault J, Wang W, Liu J, Shao M, Zhao Y, Zeljic K, Gao G, Sun B. Remotely Programmed Deep Brain Stimulation of the Bilateral Subthalamic Nucleus for the Treatment of Primary Parkinson Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating the Safety and Efficacy of a Novel Deep Brain Stimulation System[J]. Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, 2017, 95(3): 174–182. [2] Zhang C, Li D, Zeljic K, Tan H, Ning Y, Sun B. A Remote and Wireless Deep Brain Stimulation Programming System[J]. Neuromodulation: Technology at the Neural Interface, 2016, 19(4): 437–439. [3] Zhang C, Zhang Y, Zhan S, Li D, Jin H, Denys D, Sun B. Karger Publishers, 2018. Telemedical Deep Brain Stimulation: Merits and Limitations[J]. Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, 2018, 96(4): 1–2. [4] Zhang C, Zhang Y, Zeljic K, Gong H, Pan Y, Li D, Jin H, Sun B. Elsevier, 2018. S174. Remotely Programmed Deep Brain Stimulation of the Ventral Capsule/Ventral Striatum for Intractable Obsessive Compulsive Disorder[J]. Biological Psychiatry, 2018, 83(9): S415–S416.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/utility-of-deep-brain-stimulation-remote-programming-for-parkinsons-disease-during-the-covid-19-outbreak/