Anaesthetic management of shoulder arthroscopic repair in Parkinson's disease with deep brain stimulator

We describe the anaesthetic management of arthroscopic repair for complete rotator cuff tear of shoulder in a 59-year-old female with Parkinson's disease (PD) with deep brain stimulator (DBS) using a combination of general anaesthesia with interscalene approach to brachial plexus block. The DBS consists of implanted electrodes in the brain connected to the implantable pulse generator (IPG) normally placed in the anterior chest wall subcutaneously. It can be programmed externally from a hand-held device placed directly over the battery stimulator unit. In our patient, IPG with its leads was located in close vicinity of the operative site with potential for DBS malfunction. Implications of DBS in a patient with PD for shoulder arthroscopy for anaesthesiologist are discussed along with a brief review of DBS.