Abstract

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is an established therapy for Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, determining the optimal stimulation setting can be a time-consuming trial-and-error process. Thus, there is a need to define non-invasive biomarkers, for instance through the analysis of DBS-evoked cortical responses (CR). Previous studies indicate that CR with latencies of 2–10 ms – resulting from antidromic hyperdirect pathway activation – are higher for stimulation contacts that elicit a therapeutic effect. Still, neither the direct relationship to objective measures of motor performance nor the precise cortical distribution of CR have been studied so far. Making use of magnetoencephalography (MEG), we aimed to analyze the cortical distribution of stimulation evoked responses and relate them to objective quantitative parameters of motor performance.