ABSTRACT
The objective of the Grenoble study was to provide alternative treatment for non-operable pharmaco-resistant epileptic patients. The subthalamic nucleus exerts an excitatory control on the nigral system. The surgical method was identical to the procedure used for the treatment of advanced Parkinson's disease cases by chronic stimula tion of subthalamic nucleus (STN). The STN is a target which is well known to neurostereotacti-cians in the movement disorders field. High frequency stimulation is a non-destructive method for target functional inhibition, already used extensively in parkinsonian patients and in dystonia. Electrodes were temporarily connected to a transcutaneous extension to allow recordings of EEG-type activity concomitantly with scalp EEG monitoring. Interictal spikes, as well as ictal epileptic discharges, were recorded simultaneously from all four electrode contacts. The preoperative seizure rat was 30 seizures per month. During the first weeks after surgery, there was no seizure, but the EEG showed persistent subclinical-clinical epileptiform discharges.
