Longitudinal follow-up with VIM Thalamic Deep Brain Stimulation for Dystonic or Essential Tremor

Objective: To assess longitudinal tremor outcomes with ventral intermediate nucleus deep brain stimulation (VIM DBS) in patients with dystonic tremor (DT) and to draw comparisons with DBS outcomes in essential tremor (ET).
Methods: We retrospectively investigated VIM DBS outcomes for 163 patients followed at our center diagnosed with either DT or ET. The Fahn-Tolosa-Marin tremor rating scale (TRS) was used to assess change in tremor and activities of daily living (ADL) at 6 months, 1 year, 2–3 years, 4–5 years, and ≥ 6 years after surgery.
Results: Twenty-six DT and 97 ET patients were analyzed. Compared to preoperative baseline, there were significant improvements in TRS motor up to 4–5 years (52.2%; p = 0.032) and a tendency to improve at ≥ 6 years (46.0%, p = 0.063) in DT which was comparable to the outcomes in ET. While the improvements in the upper extremity tremor, head tremor, and axial tremor were also comparable between DT and ET throughout the follow-up, the ADL improvements...