Objective: To determine changes in NMS in PD patients twelve months after undergoing DBS implantation in the STN at the Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI in Mexico City

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. While it is highly disabling due to motor impairments, non-motor symptoms (NMS) appear from preclinical stages and worsen throughout the disease, significantly deteriorating patients’ quality of life. The efficacy of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in improving NMS has gained increasing attention.

Method: This retrospective cohort included PD patients who underwent bilateral STN-DBS. The Non-Motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS) and Movement Disorder Society – Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) were used for pre- and postoperative assessments. Paired t-tests analyzed differences in means of quantitative variables.

Results: Seventeen patients were included. The most prevalent initial symptom was rigidity/bradykinesia (58.8%). The most frequent clinical stage, based on Hoehn and Yahr, was stage 2 (52.9%). Significant differences were observed in MDS-UPDRS scores (16.76, p = 0.019) and NMSS scores (20.41, p = 0.038). The NMSS subdomains with significant differences were sleep/fatigue (p = 0.038) and miscellaneous symptoms (p = 0.002). Three patients developed postoperative hallucinations.

Conclusion: Significant differences were found in NMS evaluation scores between pre- and postoperative assessments, confirming that neuromodulation therapy impacts both motor and non-motor symptoms in PD. The most affected NMS in this population included sleep disturbances, fatigue, pain, sweating, hyposmia, and dysgeusia. Results were consistent with American and European cohorts.

Further studies with larger patient samples, a control group, and longer follow-ups are needed, as current trends favor evaluations extending to two years post-surgery.

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Table 1a

Table 2

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Figure 2

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