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Deep brain stimulation (DBS), which applies electrical stimulation via implanted electrodes in deep brain centers to turn off groups of neurons, is used most frequently for refractory Parkinson disease. Researchers in a French multicenter study investigated the efficacy of DBS in 10 patients with severe tardive dyskinesia that was disabling and that had failed to respond to clozapine or tetrabenazine (mean duration of tardive dyskinesia, 4.5 years; mean duration of antipsychotic drug exposure, 5 years). The electrodes were implanted bilaterally in the posteroventral globus pallidus.
Severity of tardive dyskinesia at 6 months decreased by 44% to 75% with active DBS, compared with presurgical levels. In six patients who also had parkinsonism, …