Two people with Parkinson's disease in Finland fell into the same medical emergency when the batteries in their brain stimulators ran dry. One had a new pulse generator implanted two days after symptoms began and made a complete recovery. The other waited 14 days, never meaningfully recovered, and died two and a half years later in a nursing home.
Neurologists at the University of Turku and Turku University Hospital described both patients on June 9 in Case Reports in Neurology. Their report adds to a small but sobering collection of cases showing that when deep brain stimulation (DBS) stops without warning, the fallout can range from an awkward public moment to a life-threatening crisis.
