The proposed study will evaluate outcomes for Parkinson's disease (PD) patients who are treated with unilateral deep brain stimulation (DBS); patients who consent to the study will be randomized to standard care or the experimental group. The study will occur in two phases.
Phase I:
Both the standard care and experimental groups will be medically evaluated identically, but the programming will be different between the groups as the experimental group will be programmed using the iPad. Patients in the control and experimental groups will be monitored with the same frequency at each participating clinic. Data and safety monitoring is the responsibility of each participating PI and the lead PI as the protocol involves minimal risk or no more than a minor increase over minimal risk. We anticipate that a single nurse at each site will perform DBS programming.
Phase II:
Patients in the experimental group will be evaluated and programmed by home health nurses in the patient's home setting. Neurological exams in the clinic will be performed at the first post-operative DBS programming session and 6 months later (the proposed end of the experimental period for each patient). During the intervening period, DBS programming and patient evaluations will be performed by a home health nurse. during this phase, data and safety monitoring will be conducted by a DSMB, which will meet regularly to review all cases and ensure safety. All subjects will be recruited directly through the participating sites' clinic systems, and all subjects will have oral and written informed consent before participation in the study. We anticipate that up to two home health registered nurses (RNs) will be performing DBS programming in phase 2.
