Dissociative Tremor Response with Pallidal Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson’s Disease

Background: Pallidal and subthalamic targets are commonly used for deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s disease (PD), with similar efficacy for resting tremor control. However, neuromodulatory effects on kinetic and postural tremor in PD is less clear.

Case Report: We present a 67-year-old PD patient with marked dissociative tremor response following pallidal neuromodulation. We observed excellent resting tremor suppression, but postural and kinetic tremors remained severe, requiring additional thalamic VIM stimulation for management.

Discussion: Our findings illustrate the phenotypical differences in PD and differential response to diverse tremor characteristics with distinctive stimulation targets. Additional studies are necessary to understand these differences.