Changes in Motor-Related Cortical Activity Following Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson’s Disease Detected by Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy: A Pilot Study

It remains unclear how deep brain stimulation (DBS) modulates the global neuronal network involving cortical activity. We aimed to evaluate changes in cortical activity in six (two men; four women) patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) who underwent unilateral globus pallidus interna (GPI) DBS surgery using a multi-channel near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system. As five of the patients were right-handed, DBS was performed on the left in these five cases. The mean age was 66.8 ± 4.0 years. The unified Parkinson’s disease rating scale (UPDRS) motor scores were evaluated at baseline and 1- and 6-month follow-up. Task-related NIRS experiments applying the block design were performed at baseline and 1-month follow-up. The mean of the total UPDRS motor score was 48.5 ± 11.1 in the off-medication state preoperatively. Postoperatively, total UPDRS motor scores improved to 26.8 ± 16.6 (p < 0.05) and 22.2 ± 8.6 (p < 0.05) at 1- and 6-month follow-up, respectively. A task-related NIRS experiment showed a postoperative increase in the cortical activity of the prefrontal cortex comparable to the preoperative state. To our knowledge, this is the first study to use a multi-channel NIRS system for PD patients treated with DBS. In this pilot study, we showed changes in motor-associated cortical activities following DBS surgery. Therapeutic DBS was concluded to have promoted the underlying neuronal network remodeling.