Comparison of the burdens and attitudes between standard and web-based remote programming for deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s Disease: a survey study
ABSTRACT
Background:
For patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) who have undergone deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery, remote programming (RP) enables adjustment of the implantable pulse generators (IPGs) via the Internet. However, the demand and attitudes of RP among those patients, compared with the standard programming (SP), remain less explored.
Objective:
To investigate the burdens and associated factors of programming sessions and to compare attitudes towards the two programming methods.
Methods:
A cross-sectional, online survey was distributed to 463 PD patients with DBS to investigate the burdens of postoperative programming, and to compare patients’ attitudes towards the two different methods.
Results:
Of the 225 questionnaires returned, all patients had experienced SP and 134 had experienced RP. For each SP session, 191 (85% of 225) patients required more than one caregiver for accompaniment, 129 (58%) reported that the required lost working time was more than two days, 98 (42%) reported that they spent from 300 to1000 Yuan (Chinese Yuan) and 14 (6%) reported that the cost was over 3000 Yuan. Among 134 patients with RP experience, RP was generally satisfactory, with 62% preferring RP as their main method for future programming. Currently, the main shortcomings for RP included the difficulty in providing an official prescription, the exclusion from medical insurance, and the limited medical resources.
Conclusions:
Postoperative programming of DBS places significant burdens on PD patients and their caregivers, which could be partly compensated by RP. While the satisfaction of RP is high, a more comprehensive and robust programming strategy is still required.
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