Introduction: Electrocorticography (ECoG) can be used during deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery to record cortical activity in conjunction with basal ganglia recordings to better understand Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, and essential tremor. The future of DBS for movement disorders may eventually integrate multisite cortical and subcortical sensors in closed-looped DBS systems. This study examines the safety and complications associated with ECoG during DBS surgery.
Methods: Patient data from February 2016 to January 2020 was collected from a single university medical center. The primary endpoint was to examine complication rates of DBS surgery with ECoG, such as seizure, extra-axial hemorrhage, and venous/ischemic infarction.
Results: A total of 93 patients who underwent DBS with ECoG were evaluated. Post-operative complications included: 2.2% (2/93) extra-axial hemorrhage, venous infarcts/ischemic infarct 1.1 % (1/ 93), and 3.2% (3/93) seizure. The average length of surgery was 162 minutes.
Conclusion : ECoG placement during DBS surgery shows similar complication rates as those found in the literature for standard DBS surgery. DBS surgery without ECoG is most frequently complicated by IPH (0.5%-2.2%), seizures (2.4% [CI 1.1-3.3]), venous infarcts (0.8%) and extra-axial hemorrhage (0.8-3%). Additional literature examining ECoG placement during DBS similarly showed no additional complications with ECoG placement. The use of ECoG during DBS is safe and could add significant value in optimizing DBS treatment for movement disorders.
