Objective: To compare the physician`s assessment and the patient perception of the definition of successful therapy in STN DBS.

Background: Although the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) by means of functional surgery with deep brain stimulation (DBS) presents very extended and accepted criteria for its prescription and evaluation of its results, there is still controversy in the evaluation of the success of this therapy.

Method: Twenty consecutive PD patients with subthalamic nucleus (STN) DBS were prospectively examined before and 6 months after surgery, administering scales of motor response, quality of life, and non-motor symptoms. Subjective satisfaction surveys were conducted with the treating physician, the patient, and the family. In addition, neurological, neuropsychiatric, and cognitive evaluations were also performed.

Results: On the motor aspect, all the patients improved total daily OFF time and its severity, experienced reduction or abolition of dyskinesias, and ended with a mean reduction of 50% in LEDD.  The evaluations of the treating physician were classified as a successful response for all cases. On the other hand, 70% of the surveyed patients reported satisfaction with the treatment, with a concordant improvement in the PDQ39 score. The other 30%, subjectively reported feeling dissatisfied with the results, in disagreement with objective medical perception. In the last group, non-motor (neuropsychiatric) and psychosocial (social isolation and labor reintegration) symptoms predominated.

Conclusion: In the smaller group of dissatisfied patients, there was a discrepancy between their perception of satisfaction and quality of life after surgery and the objective assessment of the treating physician, probably due to such a predominance of non-motor and psychosocial symptoms

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/was-the-deep-brain-stimulation-surgery-successful-is-it-the-same-for-the-physician-and-the-patient/