Does probe's eye subthalamic nucleus length on T2W MRI correspond with microelectrode recording in patients with deep brain stimulation for advanced Parkinson's disease?

AIM Subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) has become a well-accepted treatment for patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD). During surgical planning for DBS, the length of the STN is taken into account and verified during microelectrode recording (MER) intraoperatively. Here, we addressed the question to which extent the length of the STN measured with the T2 weighted MRI in the probe's eye view corresponded with the intraoperatively determined length of the STN with MER. MATERIAL AND METHODS We included 10 consecutive Parkinson's disease patients who underwent STN DBS surgery. The length of the STN in the probe's eye view mode was calculated along the trajectory of the central MER electrode crossing the STN. RESULTS Our analysis showed no statistical difference between the length of the STN measured with the T2 weighted probe's eye view mode and the MER (right STN length 5.8 ± 0.9 mm MRI vs. 6.3 ± 0.5 mm MER, p > 0.05; left STN length 5.6 ± 0.4 mm MRI vs 5.8 ± 1 mm MER, p > 0.05). CONCLUSION This means that the entry and the exit of the STN can be adequately estimated using the probe's eye view preoperatively.