New Data Concerning the Safety of Surgery Performed for Deep Brain Stimulation

Surgery for deep brain stimulation (DBS) includes the stereotactically guided implantation of brain electrodes in subcortical target areas of the central nervous system and the subcutaneous implantation of impulse generators (IPG) and connection cables. To date we have more than 10 years practical experiences with these interventions and adverse events or complications are documented for a reasonably large number of patients. According to recently published data, the risk for severe complications resulting directly from the surgery performed (e. g., intracranial haemorrhage) is comparatively low (range: 1-3 %) if attempts are made to perform preoperative computer-assisted and image-guided treatment planning on a high technical standard and if appropriate patient management and surgical techniques are applied. Also the frequency of many of the hardware-related complications (e. g., infection) which are considered to be relatively harmless can be significantly reduced with increasing experience of the surgeons and by the introduction of standardised operation procedures.