TEND Study:Telemedicine Nurse DBS for Parkinson's Disease

• Pre-operative Inclusion Criteria: A good response to levodopa is required in order to exclude patients with Parkinson's plus syndromes, and will be defined as a 30% improvement in parkinsonian motor signs based upon the Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor examination subscore, following the administration of 1.5 times the typical dopaminergic dose during the screening neurological examination. Patients must also have PD for a minimum of 5 years duration.
• Additional inclusion criteria consist of: 1) Hoehn \& Yahr stage II or worse when off; 2) Intractable, disabling motor fluctuations and/or tremor; 3) Age between 30-75 years; 4) Unsatisfactory clinical response to maximal medical management (with trials of both higher and lower doses of antiparkinsonian drugs). 5) A stable/optimal medical regimen of antiparkinsonian drug therapy for at least one month prior to surgery; 6) access to high-speed internet in the home.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Clinically significant medical disease that would increase the risk of developing pre- or postoperative complications (e.g. significant cardiac or pulmonary disease, uncontrolled hypertension).
• Evidence of secondary or atypical parkinsonism.
• MRI scan with significant evidence of brain atrophy or other abnormalities.
• Dementia as evidenced by impairment in two neuropsychological domains and impaired or borderline neuropsychological function in one additional domain.
• A major untreated psychiatric disorder.