ABSTRACT
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been performed in the last decade for medi-
cally refractory Parkinson’s disease (PD) as an alternative to ablative stereotactic
neurosurgical procedures (1-7). DBS of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and the
globus pallidus internas has essentially replaced pallidotomy and thalamotomy as
the procedure of choice for PD. In contrast to ablative stereotactic procedures,
DBS does not require destructive brain lesions and, therefore, lessens the risk
of permanent postoperative neurological deficits. Pathological studies have
demonstrated that DBS does not cause damage to the adjacent tissue, except
for mild gliosis around the implanted electrode track (8).
