Objective: To determine whether early postoperative cognitive changes occur across distinct domains following STN-DBS

Background: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is a well-established intervention for advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD), delivering robust motor symptom control, however, the impact on cognitive outcomes has been variable. Cognitive impairment affects up to 80% of PD patients and critically informs surgical candidacy, postoperative management, and quality-of-life outcomes. Therefore, comprehensive preoperative neuropsychological assessment characterises domain-specific deficits and permits prospective analysis of DBS-related cognitive trajectories. This study investigates cognitive change from preoperative assessment to 12 months post-DBS, evaluating whether early postoperative modification occurs across specific cognitive domains.

Method: Seventy-one PD patients underwent detailed cognitive evaluation prior to and 12months following STN-DBS. The battery assessed executive function (phonemic/semantic fluency, Hayling, Brixton), memory (Logical Memory I/II, List Learning I/II), attention/working memory (Digit Span), visuospatial ability (Line Orientation), language/reasoning (WASI), and global cognition (Mattis DRS-2, MoCA).

Results: Postoperative declines reached significance for phonemic and semantic fluency, plus immediate recall across Logical Memory and List Learning tasks (Bonferroni-corrected: p< 0.001, for all). Delayed recall performance remained stable, as did global cognition scores (DRS-2, MoCA; all p>.05) when preoperative baseline measures were compared to 12months post-operative.

Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that global cognitive function remained stable following STN-DBS, affirming preserved overall cognitive integrity at 12months postoperatively. In contrast, selective declines emerged in verbal fluency and processing speed, interrelated domains where rapid lexical retrieval and executive search efficiency underpin performance. Immediate memory encoding (Logical Memory, List Learning) also exhibited significant postoperative reduction, while delayed recall remained intact, suggesting preserved consolidation and storage capacity within hippocampal-prefrontal networks. Collectively, these domain-specific effects implicate subtle disruption of frontal-subcortical circuits, without compromising broader cognitive architecture in this early postoperative window.

« Back to 2026 International Congress

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/cognitive-trajectories-after-stn-dbs-in-parkinsons-disease-12-month-outcomes/