Pallidal deep brain stimulation in the treatment of Meige syndrome.

Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital of Northern Sweden, Umeå, Sweden. patric.blomstedt@neuro.umu.se

BACKGROUND: Pallidal deep brain stimulation (DBS) of globus pallidus internus (Gpi) has emerged as an effective treatment for dystonia. The experience is however limited concerning focal dystonias and to date only a few cases of pallidal DBS in the treatment of Meige syndrome have been published. METHODS/RESULTS: We here present a patient with Meige syndrome in whom unilateral pallidal DBS failed to improve the axial symptoms, but bilateral stimulation resulted in a major improvement. The Burke-Fahn-Marsden score (BFM) improved by 71.5% and the patient's blepharospasm was abolished. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest bilateral pallidal DBS may be an effective treatment for Meige syndrome.

PMID: 18336624 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]