AUTHOR=Chen Po-Lin , Chen Yi-Chieh , Tu Po-Hsun , Liu Tzu-Chi , Chen Min-Chi , Wu Hau-Tieng , Yeap Mun-Chun , Yeh Chih-Hua , Lu Chin-Song , Chen Chiung-Chu 

TITLE=Subthalamic high-beta oscillation informs the outcome of deep brain stimulation in patients with Parkinson's disease

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2022.958521

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2022.958521

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=Background: The therapeutic effect of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) for Parkinson’s disease (PD) is related to the modulation of pathological neural activities, particularly the synchronization in the β band (13–35 Hz). However, whether the local β activity in the STN region can directly predict the stimulation outcome remains unclear.
Objective: We tested the hypothesis that low-β (13–20 Hz) and/or high-β (20–35 Hz) band activities recorded from the STN region can predict DBS efficacy.   
Methods: Local field potentials (LFPs) were recorded in 26 patients undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery in the subthalamic nucleus area. Recordings were made after the implantation of DBS electrode prior to its connection to stimulator. The maximum normalized powers in the theta (4–7 Hz), alpha (7–13 Hz), low-β (13–20 Hz), high-β (20–35 Hz), and low-γ (40–55 Hz) subbands in the postoperatively recorded LFP were correlated with the stimulation-induced improvement in contralateral tremor or bradykinesia–rigidity. The distance between the contact selected for stimulation and the contact with the maximum subband power was correlated with the stimulation efficacy. Following the identification of the potential predictors by the significant correlations, a multiple regression analysis was performed to evaluate their effect on the outcome.
Results: The maximum high-β power was positively correlated with bradykinesia–rigidity improvement (rs = 0.549, p < 0.0001). The distance to the contact with maximum high-β was negatively correlated with bradykinesia–rigidity improvement (rs = −0.452, p < 0.001). No significant correlation was observed with low-β. The max high-β power and the distance to the contact with max high-β were both significant predictors for bradykinesia–rigidity improvement in the multiple regression, explaining 37.4% of the variance altogether. Tremor improvement was not significantly correlated with any frequency.
Conclusions: High-β oscillations, but not low-β, recorded from the STN region with the DBS lead can inform stimulation-induced improvement in contralateral bradykinesia–rigidity in patients with PD. High-β oscillations can help refine electrode targeting and inform contact selection for DBS therapy.