Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
2014
Abstract
Although ~50% of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) experience depression, treatment for this important and debilitating comorbidity is relatively understudied. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been increasingly utilized for the management of tremors in progressive PD. Several preliminary studies have shown the potential benefit of DBS for non-motor PD symptoms such as depression. Here, we critically evaluate seven recent randomized clinical trials of the effectiveness of DBS in reducing depressive symptomatology among individuals with PD. Findings are mixed for the effectiveness of DBS as a treatment for depression in PD. Our review suggests that this is due, in large part, to the anatomical and methodological variation across the DBS studies. We provide a comprehensive discussion of these variations and highlight the need to conduct larger, more controlled studies aimed specifically at evaluating the treatment of depression in PD patients.
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Gökbayrak NS, Piryatinsky I, Gavett RA and Ahmed OJ (2014) Mixed effects of deep brain stimulation on depressive symptomatology in Parkinson’s disease: a review of randomized clinical trials. Front. Neurol. 5:154. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2014.00154
Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2014.00154
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.