Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38195310›Full record

ReviewNeurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics2024

The role of the motor thalamus in deep brain stimulation for essential tremor.

Clemens Neudorfer, Kristy Kultas-Ilinsky, Igor Ilinsky, Steffen Paschen, Ann-Kristin Helmers, G Rees Cosgrove, R Mark Richardson, Andreas Horn, Günther Deuschl

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
13.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Surgical Treatment of Tremor Syndromes: A Guide to the Clinician.Movement disorders clinical practice · 2026
    Review
  3. Optimal Deep Brain Stimulation Locations for Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Oscillatory Coupling Between Thalamus, Cerebellum, and Motor Cortex in Essential Tremor.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2025
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Engaging dystonia networks with subthalamic stimulation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.

Clemens NeudorferBrain Modulation Lab, Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114, USA; Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics Department of Neurology Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Movement Disorder and Neuromodulation Unit, Department of Neurology, Charité -Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: clemens.neudorfer@gmail.com.
Kristy Kultas-IlinskyDepartment of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
Igor IlinskyDepartment of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
Steffen PaschenDepartment of Neurology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany.
Ann-Kristin HelmersDepartment of Neurosurgery, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany.
G Rees CosgroveDepartment of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
R Mark RichardsonBrain Modulation Lab, Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114, USA; Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Andreas HornDepartment of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics Department of Neurology Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Movement Disorder and Neuromodulation Unit, Department of Neurology, Charité -Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Günther DeuschlDepartment of Neurology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany.
Kiel University · DEBrigham and Women's Hospital · USUniversity of Iowa · USFreie Universität Berlin · DEMassachusetts General Hospital · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The advent of next-generation technology has significantly advanced the implementation and delivery of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for Essential Tremor (ET), yet controversies persist regarding optimal targets and networks responsible for tremor genesis and suppression. This review consolidates key insights from anatomy, neurology, electrophysiology, and radiology to summarize the current state-of-the-art in DBS for ET. We explore the role of the thalamus in motor function and describe how differences in parcellations and nomenclature have shaped our understanding of the neuroanatomical substrates associated with optimal outcomes. Subsequently, we discuss how seminal studies have propagated the ventral intermediate nucleus (Vim)-centric view of DBS effects and shaped the ongoing debate over thalamic DBS versus stimulation in the posterior subthalamic area (PSA) in ET. We then describe probabilistic- and network-mapping studies instrumental in identifying the local and network substrates subserving tremor control, which suggest that the PSA is the optimal DBS target for tremor suppression in ET. Taken together, DBS offers promising outcomes for ET, with the PSA emerging as a better target for suppression of tremor symptoms. While advanced imaging techniques have substantially improved the identification of anatomical targets within this region, uncertainties persist regarding the distinct anatomical substrates involved in optimal tremor control. Inconsistent subdivisions and nomenclature of motor areas and other subdivisions in the thalamus further obfuscate the interpretation of stimulation results. While loss of benefit and habituation to DBS remain challenging in some patients, refined DBS techniques and closed-loop paradigms may eventually overcome these limitations.

Indexed as

Deep Brain StimulationEssential TremorThalamusHumansDeep brain stimulationHuman thalamic nomenclatureMotor thalamusParcellationTremorVim

Identifiers

PMID38195310
PMCPMC11103222
OpenAlexW4390660445

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.