Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia
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Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has become a reliable and effective treatment for many disorders. However, the risk of long-term hardware-related complications is notable, and most concerning is hardware-related infections. Given the risk of hardware removal in the setting of infection, we retrospectively examined the implementation of a novel technique using antibiotic covered catheter protection of DBS leads after infection. ⋯ In seven of these eight patients (87.5%) we were able to protect and salvage their DBS leads without need for removal. In conclusion, this novel technique provides a simple reimplantation operation, with a decreased risk of DBS lead damage. It may improve the preservation of DBS leads when hardware infection occurs, is inexpensive, and confers no additional risks to patients.