Dexmedetomidine Effects on Microelectrode Recording in Deep Brain Stimulation

Deep brain stimulator (DBS) implants are used in the treatment of medically refractory movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and dystonia. Because of the uniqueness of each individual brain, the surgery to implant a DBS electrode requires detailed anatomic and physiological information for each patient. The anatomic data is obtained before surgery via a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan of the patient's brain. Physiological data is obtained during the operation via micro-electrode recording of the patient's brain and neurological examination of the patient. Therefore, DBS surgery can be uncomfortable to patients, as it can be very time consuming and requires the patient to be awake and attentive.

The specific aims of this project are:

1. To test the hypothesis that sedation induced by Dexmedetomidine at levels appropriate for awake, DBS surgery has no significant effect on electrophysiological parameters of DBS micro-electrode recordings.
2. To test the hypothesis that sedation induced by Dexmedetomidine at levels appropriate for awake, DBS surgery have no significant effects on neurological findings and/or patient cooperation during neurological examination.