Objective: To evaluate postoperative symptoms improvement and quality-of-life outcomes in patients with movement disorders following deep brain stimulation (DBS).

Background: Deep brain stimulation is an established surgical therapy for Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, and dystonia, with evidence supporting sustained motor and functional benefit. While clinical trials demonstrate efficacy, real-world longitudinal outcome data from large clinical cohorts remain important to understand postoperative symptoms response and quality-of-life impact in routine practice. 

Method: A retrospective chart review was conducted of patients who underwent DBS implantation between 2016 and 2025 after referral from a movement disorder clinic. A total of 160 patients with Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, and dystonia were included. DBS targets included the subthalamic nucleus, global pallidus interns, and ventral intermediate nucleus. Outcomes were assessed descriptively based on postoperative symptoms response, functional status, and patient-reported quality-of-life changes documented during routine follow-up visits.

Results: Following DBS implantation, patients demonstrated clinically meaningful improvement in target motor symptoms, including tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia and motor fluctuations across diagnostic groups. Parkinson’s disease patients represented approximately 70% of the cohort and experience sustained postoperative symptoms improvement over longitudinal follow-up. Patients frequently reported improvements in daily functioning and overall quality of life following DBS. Surgical and device-related complications were infrequent and consistent with expected perioperative risks, with no unexpected safety concerns identified during follow-up.

Conclusion: In this large retrospective cohort, DBS was associated with meaningful postoperative improvement in motor symptoms and patient-reported quality of life across movement disorder diagnoses, with a low rate of surgical complications. These findings support the effectiveness and safety of DBS in real-world clinical practice.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/perioperative-and-longitudinal-outcomes-following-deep-brain-stimulation-in-patients-with-movement-disorders-a-retrospective-review-from-a-movement-disorder-program/