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Bilateral Closed Loop Deep Brain Stimulation for Freezing of Gait Using Neural and Kinematic Feedback

Bilateral Closed Loop Deep Brain Stimulation for Freezing of Gait Using Neural and Kinematic Feedback

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04043403
Enrollment
12
Registered
2019-08-02
Start date
2019-10-28
Completion date
2025-08-08
Last updated
2025-10-15

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Parkinson Disease

Brief summary

Deep Brain Stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) has become a standard of care, FDA-approved treatment for Parkinson's disease, with stimulation delivered at a constant amplitude and voltage, operating in an open-loop fashion that does not respond to a patient's current state. Although gait deficits and freezing of gait may initially respond to continuous open-loop deep brain stimulation (olDBS) and medication, the symptoms often recur over time. The episodic and predictable nature of FOG makes it well suited for adaptive DBS (aDBS) and a device that overcomes the limitations of traditional high frequency olDBS and is capable of adapting therapy either in the frequency or intensity domain transiently to treat FOG while also treating other PD signs such as tremor and bradykinesia. The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility of an adaptive DBS system, that responds to patient-specific neural and kinematic variables with customized DBS parameters.

Interventions

DEVICEOpen Loop DBS

Standard DBS therapy at a constant frequency and voltage

DEVICEAdaptive (Closed Loop) DBS

DBS that responds to neural (Percept PC and Summit RC+S) or kinematic (Summit RC+S) features of patient's current state

DEVICEIntermittent Open Loop DBS

Control for aDBS - DBS intensity or frequency changes in a manner that mimics aDBS but is pre-determined and open loop rather than being responsive to neural or kinematic signals.

Sponsors

Stanford University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)

Intervention model description

Participants will have either the Percept PC system, or Summit RC+S system from Medtronic PLC implanted.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Clinically-established PD * Meets criteria for STN DBS eligibility as part of patient's standard medical care or already implanted in the STN with Percept(TM) PC * The presence of complications of medication such as wearing off signs, fluctuating responses and/or dyskinesias, and/or medication refractory tremor, and/or impairment in the quality of life on or off medication due to these factors. * Ability and willingness to return for study visits, at the initial programming and after three, six and twelve months of DBS. * Age \> 18 * Freezing of gait questionnaire (FOG-Q) score ≥ 1 and/or gait sub-score (Item 3.10) of MDS- UPDRS III ≥ 1 * Greater than or equal to 1.2 microVp between 8-35 Hz on either the LSTN or RSTN (Percept (TM) PC cohort only)

Exclusion criteria

* Dementia * Untreated psychiatric disease * Hoehn and Yahr stage 5 on or off medication (non-ambulatory) * Age \> 80 * Major surgical morbidities such as severe hypertension, coagulopathy and certain metabolic conditions that might increase the risk of hemorrhage or other surgical complications * Presence of a cardiac pacemaker/defibrillator * Inability to understand/sign consent * Requires rTMS, ECT, MRI (Summit(R) RC+S cohort only), or diathermy * Are pregnant or lactating * Has a cranial metallic implant * History of seizures or epilepsy

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Incidence of Treatment-Emergent Adverse Events [Safety and Tolerability] related to Stimulation Condition3 MonthsA Customized Adverse Events and Tolerability Questionnaire will measure the absence/presence and frequency of paresthesias, and muscle twitching relative to each stimulation condition
Incidence of Treatment-Emergent Adverse Events [Safety and Tolerability] related to quality of life3 MonthsThe Movement Disorder Society - Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) Parts I, II, and IV will: (I) Evaluate mentation, behavior, and mood (II) Evaluate a patient's activities of daily life (IV) Measure the presence/severity of dyskinesias and other complications of therapy over time
Incidence of Treatment-Emergent Adverse Events [Safety and Tolerability] related to speech6 MonthsThe Speech Intelligibility Test (SIT) will measure changes in speech related to each stimulation condition.
Incidence of Treatment-Emergent Adverse Events [Safety and Tolerability] related to gait3 MonthsThe Freezing of Gait Questionnaire (FOG-Q) will be used to record changes in gait over time

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Gait Parameters: ArrhythmicityCollected up to 10 days every 3 monthsVariability in stride time during a gait task
The Movement Disorder Society - Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) Part IIICollected up to 10 days every 3 monthsPortion of the scale assesses the motor signs of PD. Each item is scored on a scale from 0 (normal) to 4 (severe), with the total possible score ranging from 0 to 132.
Gait Parameters: Mean Shank Angular VelocityCollected up to 10 days every 3 monthsAverage of the peak shank angular velocities of every stride during the gait task
Gait Parameters: Mean Gait Cycle TimeCollected up to 10 days every 3 monthsAverage length of time of each stride during a gait task
Percent Time FreezingCollected up to 10 days every 3 monthsThe percentage of the gait task was a participant frozen

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 12, 2026