• Johannes Kähkölä, Maija Lahtinen, Tuija Keinänen, and Jani Katisko.
• Oulu Research Group of Advanced Surgical Technologies and Physics - ORGASTP, Medical Research Center, Oulu University Hospital, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
• Neurosurgery. 2023 May 1; 92 (5): 105810651058-1065.

BackgroundThe development of diffusion tensor imaging and tractography has raised increasing interest in the functional targeting of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in Parkinson disease.ObjectiveTo study, using deterministic tractography, the functional subdivisions of the STN and hyperdirect white matter connections located between the STN and the medial frontal cortex, especially the presupplementary motor area (preSMA), SMA, primary motor area (M1), and dorsolateral premotor cortex, and to study retrospectively whether this information correlates with clinical outcome.MethodsTwenty-two patients with Parkinson disease who underwent STN deep brain stimulation were analyzed. Using 3 T MR images, the medial frontal cortex was manually segmented into preSMA, SMA, M1, and dorsolateral premotor cortex, which were then used to determine the functional subdivisions of the lateral border of the STN. The intersectional quantities of the volume of activated tissue (VAT) and the hyperdirect white matter connections were calculated. The results were combined with clinical data including unilateral 12-month postoperative motor outcome and levodopa equivalent daily dose.ResultsStimulated clusters of the STN were connected mostly to the cortical SMA and preSMA regions. Patients with primarily preSMA cluster stimulation (presmaVAT% ≥ 50%) had good responses to the treatment with unilateral motor improvement over 40% and levodopa equivalent daily dose reduction over 60%. Larger VAT was not found to correlate with better patient outcomes.ConclusionOur study is the first to suggest that stimulating, predominantly, the STN cluster where preSMA hyperdirect pathways are located, could be predictive of more consistent treatment results.Copyright © Congress of Neurological Surgeons 2022. All rights reserved.

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