Objective: To investigate the effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) on different cognitive domains for Parkinson’s disease (PD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).

Background: DBS-PPN has been proposed as a treatment for the axial symptoms of patients with PD or PSP. The results concerning the clinical benefits of PPN-DBS are inconsistent. However, some reported evidence suggests beneficial effects of PPN-DBS on aspects of cognition.

Methods: Five patients with PD and two patients with PSP who were consecutively operated with PPN-DBS were administered a neuropsychological battery of tests assessing all major cognitive domains within one month prior to surgery and one year after surgery. Six patients had unilateral (1 right, 5 left) and one patient had bilateral PPN-DBS. None of the patients had undergone DBS at other brain targets.

Results: The majority of tests of cognition showed no significant change from before to after surgery. The only aspects of cognition that reliably declined in a proportion of the patients were processing speed (Stroop colour naming control task, WAIS-III digit symbol) and switching category verbal fluency. None of the tests of cognition showed improved performance at one year compared to before DBS.

Conclusions: Despite the small sample size and the heterogeneity of the sample, the results indicate that PPN-DBS is generally safe from a cognitive perspective, but by contrast to previous reports, there was no evidence of improvement of any aspect of cognition assessed.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-effects-of-deep-brain-stimulation-of-the-pedunculopontine-nucleus-on-cognition-in-parkinsons-disease-and-progressive-supranuclear-palsy/