Ventralis oralis anterior (Voa) deep brain stimulation plus Gamma Knife thalamotomy in an elderly patient with essential tremor A case report

Rationale: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the ventralis intermedius nucleus (Vim) provides a safe and effective therapy for medically refractory essential tremor (ET). However, DBS may be risky in elderly patients and those with ischemic brain lesions. Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKS) is a minimally invasive procedure, but bilateral thalamotomy is dangerous. Patient concerns: We report a case of ventralis oralis anterior nucleus (Voa) DBS for dominant hand tremor plus Voa GKS for nondominant hand tremor in a very elderly patient with medically intractable ET. Diagnosis: An 83-year-old right-handed woman visited our hospital with a medically intractable ET. Because of the ischemic lesion in the right basal ganglia, we decided to perform left unilateral DBS instead of bilateral DBS. Intervention: We chose Voa as the target for DBS because, clinically, her tremor was mainly confined to her hands, and Voa had better intraoperative microelectrode recording results than Vim. Outcomes: After 2 years, her right-hand tremor remained in an improved state, but she still had severe tremor in her left hand. Therefore, we performed GKS targeting the right Voa. One year after surgery, the patient's hand tremor successfully improved without any complications. Lessons: Salvage Voa GKS after unilateral Voa DBS is a valuable option for very elderly patients and patients with ischemic brain lesions. We suggest that Voa GKS thalamotomy is as useful and safe a surgical technique as Vim GKS for dystonic hand tremor. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report using salvage Voa as the only target for ET.

Automated summary

A very elderly patient with medically intractable essential tremor underwent left unilateral Voa DBS for dominant hand tremor, followed by right Voa GKS for persistent tremor in the other hand, resulting in successful improvement of hand tremor after one year.