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Connectomic Guided DBS for Parkinson's Disease

Not Applicable
Recruiting
Conditions
Parkinson Disease
Tremor
Dyskinesias
Interventions
Device: Cerebellothalamic optimized deep brain stimulation
Device: Pallidothalamic optimized deep brain stimulation
Other: No deep brain stimulation
Device: Usual care deep brain stimulation
Registration Number
NCT06618157
Lead Sponsor
Duke University
Brief Summary

The objective of this research is to use advanced connectomic imaging models to identify disease-relevant axonal pathway targets for better tremor control in Parkinson's disease patients while avoiding undesirable side effects, with the goal of increasing precision and facilitating the choice of optimal DBS parameters for certain disease phenotypes. The investigators hypothesize that patient centered subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation of cerebellothalamic axonal pathways and pallidothalamic tract activation can provide better tremor control while avoiding worsening dyskinesias in patients with Parkinson's disease with significant tremor.

Detailed Description

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) can suffer from significant disability due to tremors, rigidity, bradykinesia, or motor fluctuations, in addition to non-motor symptoms of the disease. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is the main surgical approach approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of medication-refractory PD. Despite recent advances, the selection of DBS parameters is based on trial-and-error experimentation by specialists over the course of months. Better understanding of the optimal network targets for symptomatic control would allow for therapy improvement and simplify the DBS programming process, increase efficiency, and possibly increase access to care.

Most studies of structural connectivity in PD have focused on the analysis of the subthalamic nucleus (STN). Previous studies analyzing structural connectivity of STN DBS have shown that specific motor symptoms benefit from the activation of different networks. Several tracts such as the cerebellothalamic tract (CBT), pallidothalamic (PT) and corticospinal tract (CST) course through the STN and might be relevant for DBS targeting. For patients with essential tremor, stimulation of the CBT might provide better tremor control, but studies in PD are lacking.

The investigators will use connectomic models to better understand the mechanistic qualities of axonal pathways in the STN in Parkinson's disease and address the need for phenotype driven stimulation in PD. Estimating targeted axonal pathways by using connectomic models may guide personalized decision-making and targeting of DBS. It has the potential to improve clinical outcomes and reduce the number of visits needed for DBS optimization.

The study involves the extraction of data collected during routine clinical care, and data collected during the intervention study.

Data collected during routine clinical care includes:

* Demographic characteristics: age, gender, ethnicity, race.

* Clinical characteristics: disease duration, Movement Disorders Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS III) prior to DBS implementation, levodopa equivalent daily dose of medications.

* Imaging data: DBS lead location, stimulation model activation pathway, recruitment curves, percent of each pathway activated with clinical DBS settings

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
20
Inclusion Criteria
  • Age 18 or older
  • Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and has previously been implanted with bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (DBS)
  • Received DBS at least three months prior to the time of the study to allow for optimization of usual clinical care
  • With at least mild tremor on a pre-operatory MDS-UPDRS clinical scale as defined by at least 2 out of 4 resting tremor grading on MDS-UPDRS on at least one extremity
Exclusion Criteria
  • Not having a post-operative head CT with 1mm or smaller axial slices at least 1 week after initial lead implantation.
  • Patients who received DBS less than three months prior to the start of the study

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
CROSSOVER
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
No oral dopaminergic medicationUsual care deep brain stimulationWhile off of oral dopaminergic medication, MDS-UPDRS III (clinical scale) will be collected in different scenarios (each setting will be recorded for 20 minutes): during no DBS stimulation, usual care stimulation, cerebellothalamic optimized, and pallidothalamic optimized. Each participant will also wear a smartwatch (Apple watch) on each upper arm throughout the research encounter to collect total minutes with tremor, total minutes with dyskinesia, and severity of tremors and dyskinesia.
No oral dopaminergic medicationCerebellothalamic optimized deep brain stimulationWhile off of oral dopaminergic medication, MDS-UPDRS III (clinical scale) will be collected in different scenarios (each setting will be recorded for 20 minutes): during no DBS stimulation, usual care stimulation, cerebellothalamic optimized, and pallidothalamic optimized. Each participant will also wear a smartwatch (Apple watch) on each upper arm throughout the research encounter to collect total minutes with tremor, total minutes with dyskinesia, and severity of tremors and dyskinesia.
No oral dopaminergic medicationPallidothalamic optimized deep brain stimulationWhile off of oral dopaminergic medication, MDS-UPDRS III (clinical scale) will be collected in different scenarios (each setting will be recorded for 20 minutes): during no DBS stimulation, usual care stimulation, cerebellothalamic optimized, and pallidothalamic optimized. Each participant will also wear a smartwatch (Apple watch) on each upper arm throughout the research encounter to collect total minutes with tremor, total minutes with dyskinesia, and severity of tremors and dyskinesia.
No oral dopaminergic medicationNo deep brain stimulationWhile off of oral dopaminergic medication, MDS-UPDRS III (clinical scale) will be collected in different scenarios (each setting will be recorded for 20 minutes): during no DBS stimulation, usual care stimulation, cerebellothalamic optimized, and pallidothalamic optimized. Each participant will also wear a smartwatch (Apple watch) on each upper arm throughout the research encounter to collect total minutes with tremor, total minutes with dyskinesia, and severity of tremors and dyskinesia.
On oral dopaminergic medicationCerebellothalamic optimized deep brain stimulationWhile on oral dopaminergic medication, MDS-UPDRS III (clinical scale) will be collected in different scenarios (each setting will be recorded for 20 minutes): during no DBS stimulation, usual care stimulation, cerebellothalamic optimized, and pallidothalamic optimized. Each participant will also wear a smartwatch (Apple watch) on each upper arm throughout the research encounter to collect total minutes with tremor, total minutes with dyskinesia, and severity of tremors and dyskinesia.
On oral dopaminergic medicationPallidothalamic optimized deep brain stimulationWhile on oral dopaminergic medication, MDS-UPDRS III (clinical scale) will be collected in different scenarios (each setting will be recorded for 20 minutes): during no DBS stimulation, usual care stimulation, cerebellothalamic optimized, and pallidothalamic optimized. Each participant will also wear a smartwatch (Apple watch) on each upper arm throughout the research encounter to collect total minutes with tremor, total minutes with dyskinesia, and severity of tremors and dyskinesia.
On oral dopaminergic medicationNo deep brain stimulationWhile on oral dopaminergic medication, MDS-UPDRS III (clinical scale) will be collected in different scenarios (each setting will be recorded for 20 minutes): during no DBS stimulation, usual care stimulation, cerebellothalamic optimized, and pallidothalamic optimized. Each participant will also wear a smartwatch (Apple watch) on each upper arm throughout the research encounter to collect total minutes with tremor, total minutes with dyskinesia, and severity of tremors and dyskinesia.
On oral dopaminergic medicationUsual care deep brain stimulationWhile on oral dopaminergic medication, MDS-UPDRS III (clinical scale) will be collected in different scenarios (each setting will be recorded for 20 minutes): during no DBS stimulation, usual care stimulation, cerebellothalamic optimized, and pallidothalamic optimized. Each participant will also wear a smartwatch (Apple watch) on each upper arm throughout the research encounter to collect total minutes with tremor, total minutes with dyskinesia, and severity of tremors and dyskinesia.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Tremor duration as measured by wearablesApproximately eight hours

An Apple iPhone will be used to collect about two hours of data of each participant using accelerometer to estimate tremor duration. This technology has been integrated into the StrivePD application (Rune Labs, San Francisco, CA) and has been used in other studies at Duke University.

Tremor severity as measured by wearablesApproximately eight hours

An Apple iPhone will be used to collect about two hours of data of each participant using accelerometer to estimate tremor severity. This technology has been integrated into the StrivePD application (Rune Labs, San Francisco, CA) and has been used in other studies at Duke University.

Dyskinesia duration as measured by wearablesApproximately eight hours

An Apple iPhone will be used to collect about two hours of data of each participant using accelerometer to estimate dyskinesia severity duration). This technology has been integrated into the StrivePD application (Rune Labs, San Francisco, CA) and has been used in other studies at Duke University.

Dyskinesia severity as measured by wearablesApproximately eight hours

An Apple iPhone will be used to collect about two hours of data of each participant using accelerometer to estimate dyskinesia severity. This technology has been integrated into the StrivePD application (Rune Labs, San Francisco, CA) and has been used in other studies at Duke University.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Tremor severity as measured by the Movement Disorders Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS III)Approximately eight hours

The Movement Disorders Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS III) tremor severity score ranges from 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating greater severity of tremors.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Duke Health Center at Morreene Road

🇺🇸

Durham, North Carolina, United States

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