Successful subthalamic stimulation in genetic Parkinson’s disease caused by duplication of the α-synuclein gene

The α-synuclein gene (SNCA) multiplication causes autosomal dominant Parkinson’s disease (PD). Particularly triplication, but also duplication, of the SNCA is associated with early-onset rapidly progressing parkinsonism with increased risk of cognitive impairment. There is no report about the effect and safety of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) in carriers of this mutation and, in general, data in patients with genetic parkinsonism are scarce. We report a one-year prospective follow-up of subthalamic nucleus (STN) DBS in a 46-year old female carrier of SNCA duplication who developed PD at the age of 41 years, and rapidly showed disabling motor fluctuations and dyskinesias refractory to pharmacological strategies. One year after surgery there was a clinically relevant improvement in motor features with a reduction of 64% in UPDRS III in “off medication” and a complete abolition of peak dose dyskinesias. Patient did not report procedure-related adverse events following STN-DBS except for stimulation-induced right foot dystonia relieved by modulating stimulation parameters. Postoperative cognitive testing showed a decline in executive functions, mostly verbal fluency and attention shifting, compared with presurgical assessment. STN-DBS is safe and effective in patients with SNCA duplication showing a clinical pattern similar to idiopathic PD. Our case suggests that clinical phenotype rather genotype is the main predictor for DBS outcome.