When battery exhaustion lets the lame walk: a case report on the importance of long-term stimulator monitoring in deep brain stimulation

BACKGROUND: Deep brain stimulation is increasingly used in the treatment of advanced Parkinson’s disease. While its short-term effectiveness is well documented, there are only few reports on long-term outcomes, and the need to repeatedly reprogram the stimulator is seldom reported. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a 74-year-old man with gait impairment, which had been mistaken for worsening of the disease and only remitted when the stimulator battery was exhausted indicating that the stimulator itself had been the cause. CONCLUSION: This case highlights the need to repeatedly monitor not only battery capacity, but also stimulator-related side-effects for an extended period after implantation and, if necessary, to refer to centres capable of systematically reprogramming the device.