Patient perspectives on the efficacy of a new kind of rechargeable deep brain stimulators¹

Abstract

Purpose/Aim of the study: Rechargeable deep brain stimulation (DBS) system with longer battery life has become available for treating movement disorders. However, little information exists about the safety and management after implantation. Therefore, there is an urgent need to evaluate the recharging performance through long-term observations. Materials and methods: Fifty-three Parkinson's disease (PD) patients were implanted with a new rechargeable device (G102R, PINS Medical). They were observed at the baseline and 3 months, 6 months and 12 months after surgery, with measurement of the acceptance, frequency, recharging time and feeling during recharging. Results: The patients with the ages between 34 and 70 (57.64 ± 7.34) years thought the system was very easy to recharge. The favorite time interval for recharging was 1 week, and 10 days and half a month also chosen. Most of the patients spent around 1 hour recharging, with no unacceptable hot feelings reported. Conclusions: The PD patients could easily and safely recharge this new rechargeable implantable neurostimulators. Thus, these neurostimulators might be an excellent choice for PD patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Parkinson's disease
• deep brain stimulation
• rechargeable
• battery life
• safety

Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the patients for contributing to this study.

Funding

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 51125028).

Declaration of Interest

The authors reported no conflicts of interest.