DBS Surgery and Brain Activity Study for Parkinson's Disease

When a patient gets DBS surgery, the neurosurgeon makes a hole in the skull through which they can put the DBS lead down in deep parts of the brain that help control movement. For this study, research participants will also have an ECoG strip put through the same hole (no extra holes are being made for research purposes). The ECoG strip is a little less than half an inch wide, and a little more than 2.5 inches long. It is very, very thin; it is a thin plastic film with flat metal sensors that can record the electrical activity in the brain. The ECoG strips are FDA approved. The neurosurgeon will slide the ECoG strip under the skull but on top of the brain, over another area of the brain that helps control hand/arm movement (motor cortex), so that the study team can record the activity there. The study team will record brain activity from the DBS lead and the ECoG strip simultaneously to try to understand how the brain communicates and sends information. The study team will check that the ECoG strip is in the right place by delivering a very small electrical pulse to the wrist. If the ECoG strip is in the correct location, this electrical pulse will show up on the brain activity being recorded by the sensors in the ECoG strip. Fluoroscopy (i.e. X-ray images that can be taken quickly) will also be done at the end of the surgery to help confirm the location of the ECoG strip. During fluoroscopy, an X-ray beam is used to track a contrast agent ("X-ray dye") through the body, so that the body can be seen in detail. This involves some radiation exposure for the participant, so this is described in the consent form. Patients who want to sign up for the study will not be allowed to do so if they have had other radiation exposures within the past year that would go over a safe limit when added to the amount of radiation expected from the fluoroscopy for this study.