Clinical milestones demonstrate compression of morbidity in patients with parkinson's disease treated by deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus

Background: Deep Brain Stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) is an effective treatment for motor symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease (PD). The occurrence of hallucinations, dementia, nursing home placement and falls in PD patients with best medical therapy (BMT) were suggested as clinical milestones initiating the final disease stage by Kempster et al. In this study, we investigated the long-term progression of motor and non-motor symptoms and health-related quality of life (HrQoL) in patients with STN-DBS. In order to determine the functional relevance of the clinical milestones in PD patients with STN-DBS, we measured their occurrence in a well described cohort of PD patients with STN-DBS.