Objective: To explore the relationship between recharge frequency and therapy power usage in patients with rechargeable deep brain stimulation (DBS) devices.

Background: Advancements in DBS technology include the option of rechargeable devices. For these types of devices, higher stimulation parameter settings may be associated with more frequent recharging. The RECHARGE study investigated the safety of rechargeable devices and found that no patients experienced user-related battery depletions that resulted in an adverse event and required intervention by a health care provider. The relationship between recharge frequency and therapy power usage was explored using data collected in this study.

Methods: The RECHARGE sub-study to the Implantable Systems Performance Registry was a prospective, observational, single-arm study conducted at 6 sites in Europe and 5 sites in the United States. Eighty-seven patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), essential tremor (ET), or dystonia were implanted with a Medtronic Activa® RC neurostimulator and followed for 6-months. Patient-reported recharging behavior was collected. Recharge patterns and stimulation parameter settings were collected from the clinician programmer. Therapy power calculations were derived from the stimulation settings.

Results: Recharge intervals were similar across all 3 movement disorders indications at 6 months, with average recharge interval ranging from 2.6 to 3.0 days. Patients self-reported they primarily recharged their device at a specific time interval or at a specific battery level. Most PD and dystonia patients were using unipolar stimulation, while the majority of ET patients were using bipolar stimulation. Stimulation settings were converted to therapy power, with an average of 268.7 μW for PD (n=37), 1343.9 μW for ET (n=4), and 377.5 μW for dystonia (n=13). There was a weak negative correlation between therapy power and recharge interval (r=-0.3).

Conclusions: Although a small inverse relationship between the two was observed, recharge frequency did not appear to be driven by therapy power usage. Rather, patients in this study chose to recharge at a certain time interval, regardless of their stimulation parameter settings. Limitations in this analysis include small sample size by indication and estimates of therapy power using 6 month settings.

« Back to 2016 International Congress

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/recharge-frequency-is-not-driven-by-therapy-power-usage-in-patients-implanted-with-rechargeable-deep-brain-stimulation-systems/