The relationship of documented destruction of specific cell types to complications and effectiveness in thalamotomy for tremor in Parkinson's disease.

Microstimulation and single unit recording techniques were used to explore the thalamus prior to performance of 18 thalamotomies in 13 patients. Identified tactile, kinesthetic and tremor-synchronous cells were mapped to scale. Lesion sizes were determined experimentally from lesions made in rat thalami and superimposed on the human maps. Effectiveness and complications were evaluated vis-à-vis documented destruction of tactile kinesthetic and tremor-synchronous cells.