Constant-current deep brain stimulation (DBS) increased symptom
control and decreased medication use, and resulted in adverse
effects similar to those seen in other studies, researchers
found. At three months, both study groups reported an increase
in good quality "on time," when a patient had good control of
their symptoms (difference in mean change: 2.51 hours, 95% CI
0.87 to 4.16, P=0.003) reported Michael S. Okun, MD, from the
University of Florida College of Medicine, and colleagues. The
levodopa equivalent dose of medication was reduced by 319 mg at
six months and by 391 mg at one year during the study, which was
reported online in Lancet Neurology. DBS, a powerful treatment
in Parkinson's disease, is typically administered with voltage-
controlled devices, in which current is variable, the authors
noted. Constant-current stimulation might provide more accurate
control of the spread of the electrical field than do voltage-
controlled devices; however, the safety and efficacy of using
constant-current stim