Deep brain stimulation of subthalamic nucleus modulates cortical auditory processing in advanced Parkinson's Disease

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has proven its clinical efficacy in Parkinson's disease (PD), but its exact mechanisms and cortical effects continue to be unclear. Subthalamic (STN) DBS acutely modifies auditory evoked responses, but its long-term effect on auditory cortical processing remains ambiguous. We studied with magnetoencephalography the effect of long-term STN DBS on auditory processing in patients with advanced PD. DBS resulted in significantly increased contra-ipsilateral auditory response latency difference at similar to 100 ms after stimulus onset compared with preoperative state. The effect is likely due to normalization of neuronal asynchrony in the auditory pathways. The present results indicate that STN DBS in advanced PD patients has long-lasting effects on cortical areas outside those confined to motor processing. Whole-head magnetoencephalography provides a feasible tool to study motor and non-motor neural networks in PD, and to track possible changes related to cortical reorganization or plasticity induced by DBS.

Automated summary

This study investigated the effect of long-term subthalamic (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) on auditory processing in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) using magnetoencephalography. The results showed that DBS significantly increased the contra-ipsilateral auditory response latency difference compared to the preoperative state, likely as a result of normalized neuronal asynchrony in the auditory pathways. The findings suggest that STN DBS in advanced PD patients has lasting effects on cortical areas beyond motor processing.