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6546939 
Journal Article 
Review 
Single Electrode Deep Brain Stimulation with Dual Targeting at Dual Frequency for the Treatment of Chronic Pain: A Case Series and Review of the Literature 
Hollingworth, M; Sims-Williams, HP; Pickering, AE; Barua, N; Patel, NK 
2017 
Brain Sciences
ISSN: 2076-3425 
7 
1 
English 
28098766 
WOS:000395483700008 
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) has been used to target many deep brain structures for the treatment of chronic pain. The periaqueductal grey and periventricular grey (PAG/PVG) is an effective target but results are variable, sometimes short-lived or subject to tolerance. The centromedian intra-laminar parafascicular complex (CMPf) modulates medial pain pathways and CMPf DBS may address the affective aspects of pain perception. Stimulation of multiple deep brain targets may offer a strategy to optimize management of patients with complex pain symptomatology. However, previous attempts to stimulate multiple targets requires multiple trajectories and considerable expense. Using a single electrode to stimulate multiple targets would help overcome these challenges. A pre-requisite of such a technique is the ability to use different stimulation parameters at different contacts simultaneously on the same electrode. We describe a novel technique in 3 patients with chronic pain syndromes for whom conventional medical and/or neuromodulation therapy had failed using a single electrode technique to stimulate PVG/PAG and CMPf at dual frequencies.