Category: Parkinson's Disease: Neurophysiology
Objective: Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) is an established treatment in advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, the clinical outcome after STN-DBS is variable. The aim of this study was to explore the coherence of antagonistic muscles measured with electromyography (EMG) as novel biomarker of STN-DBS efficacy in PD.
Background: Simultaneous contraction of antagonistic muscles is significantly enhanced in PD patients compared to healthy subjects. The degree of coupling between two muscles can be analyzed using coherence analysis. For this study, we investigated the intermuscular coherence of antagonistic muscle pairs as a potential biomarker of clinical outcome for STN-DBS in PD. We hypothesize that intermuscular coherence is correlated to clinical state, and higher intermuscular coherence before surgery is correlated to an improved clinical outcome after surgery.
Method: EMG of bilateral wrist and upper arm antagonistic muscles of 21 PD patients was recorded during three standardized motor tasks. Patients were measured one day prior to DBS surgery (pre-DBS) and 6 months afterwards (post-DBS). Coherence analyses were performed on the antagonistic muscle pairs. Pearson correlations between intermuscular coherence and clinical performance were calculated.
Results: A significant correlation for each task was found between pre-DBS coherence and clinical state (p<0.01). Moreover, a significant correlation for each task was found between coherence change (pre-DBS – post-DBS coherence) and clinical improvement (p<0.01) as well as between pre-DBS coherence and clinical improvement (p<0.01).
Conclusion: Pre-DBS coherence of antagonistic arm muscles is correlated to the clinical state and higher intermuscular coherence predicts enhanced clinical improvement. We propose that pre-DBS intermuscular coherence could be developed into a predictor of STN-DBS clinical outcome. It could aid patient selection and adaptive stimulation algorithms for DBS.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
S. Lagerweij, J. van Zijl, T. van Laar, D. Oterdoom, J. van Dijk, M. Tijssen, J. Elting. Intermuscular coherence as a biomarker of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation efficacy in Parkinson’s disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2022; 37 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/intermuscular-coherence-as-a-biomarker-of-subthalamic-nucleus-deep-brain-stimulation-efficacy-in-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to 2022 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/intermuscular-coherence-as-a-biomarker-of-subthalamic-nucleus-deep-brain-stimulation-efficacy-in-parkinsons-disease/