The impact of mild-to-moderate cortical cognitive deficits on post-operative outcomes in deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease: Considerations for patient selection

Introduction

Subcortical deficits in Parkinson’s disease (PD) are well studied; however, deep brain stimulation (DBS) risks posed by mild-moderate deficits in semantic fluency, verbal memory storage, and confrontation naming are not as well understood. This study aims to better define DBS risk stratification criteria by evaluating whether pre-DBS cortical domain deficits predict surgical outcomes, including cognition, mood, quality of life, medication and motor function in patients with PD.

Methods

A retrospective study was conducted with 50 PD patients who underwent pre- and post-surgical neurological and neuropsychological evaluations between 2015 and 2023. Patients were categorized into normal, mildly impaired, and moderately impaired cognitive groups based on pre-surgical neuropsychological testing. Bayesian paired-sample t-tests compared pre- and post-surgery outcomes in motor function, medication use, quality of life, mood, and cognition.

Results

No significant differences were found in demographic or clinical variables across cognitive groups. In the normal cognition group, there was a credible decline in memory and anxiety. The mildly impaired group showed a weak decline in delayed word list memory. The moderately impaired group had no significant changes in cognitive or mood variables. Medication use reliably decreased post-surgically across all groups. There was no significant change in motor function or quality of life post-DBS.

Conclusion

Mild to moderate cognitive impairments in memory and language do not significantly affect post-surgical outcomes. Our preliminary findings warrant further confirmation with larger sample sizes and long-term follow-up when assessing DBS candidacy in those with pre-surgical cognitive deficits. Comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations can assist in proper risk stratification and informed patient selection.