Quality of Life and Cost Effectiveness of Deep Brain Stimulation in Movement Disorders

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) refers to an individual's feelings, daily functioning, and coping strategies in response to his or her disease. Instruments that measure HRQOL may be utilized to quantify burden of disease. HRQOL is particularly impaired in patients with medication refractory Parkinson's disease (PD), essential tremor (ET), dystonia, and cerebellar outflow tremor. For these patients, deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a viable alternative that may favorably impact their HRQOL.