Category: Parkinson’s Disease: Clinical Trials
Objective: To evaluate whether adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is more efficacious than continuous DBS (cDBS) in Parkinson’s disease (PD)
Background: STN-DBS is a well-established treatment for motor fluctuations in PD. Currently, stimulation amplitude is applied continuously and must be manually titrated, a process frequently limited by stimulation-induced side effects such as dysarthria and dyskinesia. Adaptive DBS dynamically adjusts stimulation based on local field potentials (LFP) in the beta (13–30 Hz) frequency range, a physiological marker of bradykinesia and rigidity, and could offer more effective symptom control with fewer side effects compared to cDBS.
Method: This is a prospective, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial (RCT) with a parallel-group design comparing STN-aDBS and STN-cDBS. Enrollment takes place at three hospitals in the Netherlands and one in Belgium. The cohort will consist of 130 patients with idiopathic PD undergoing bilateral STN-DBS. Participants will be randomized to aDBS or cDBS. The primary outcome is the change from baseline to six-month follow-up in daily mean ON time without troublesome dyskinesia, measured using the PD Home Diary. Secondary outcomes include changes in motor symptom severity, motor complications, dopaminergic medication usage, sleep quality, mood, apathy, physical disability (Academic Medical Center Linear Disability Score, ALDS), cognitive function (Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA), and disease-specific quality of life (39-item Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire, PDQ-39).
Results: Participant enrollment started in January 2026. This study will provide important insights into the potential benefits of aDBS versus cDBS and will be crucial for evaluating the implementation of aDBS in standard clinical care.
Conclusion: This multicenter, double-blind RCT will determine whether STN-aDBS is more efficacious than STN-cDBS in PD.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
J. Genet, M. Heeren, B. Keulen, D. Hubers, B. Swinnen, F. Contarino, M. Janssen, Y. Temel, B. van Wijk, A. Hillebrand, M. Bot, R. Schuurman, R. de Bie, M. Beudel. Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Adaptive versus Continuous Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson’s Disease; Closed Loop Optimization of Deep Brain Stimulation Effect in Parkinson’s Disease (CLOSE-PD study) [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2026; 41 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/randomized-controlled-trial-comparing-adaptive-versus-continuous-subthalamic-nucleus-deep-brain-stimulation-in-parkinsons-disease-closed-loop-optimization-of-deep-brain-stimulation-effect-in-parkin/. Accessed October 1, 2026.« Back to 2026 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/randomized-controlled-trial-comparing-adaptive-versus-continuous-subthalamic-nucleus-deep-brain-stimulation-in-parkinsons-disease-closed-loop-optimization-of-deep-brain-stimulation-effect-in-parkin/