Investigating the Impact of Presurgical White Matter Microstructure on Surgical Outcomes of VIM-DBS in Essential Tremor

Motivation: Identifying biomarkers that can predict outcomes of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in essential tremor (ET) patients is essential for personalizing surgical plans and maximizing treatment effectiveness. Goal(s): Our goal was to identify in vivo presurgical biomarkers that could predict clinical outcomes in ET patients following DBS, using diffusion MRI. Approach: Presurgical diffusion MRI was performed on 11 ET patients. Spearman correlation analysis was applied to examine associations between preoperative WM integrity and DBS outcomes, as measured by TETRAS. Results: Significant correlations were found between fractional anisotropy and TETRAS scores in key WM regions linked to tremor, highlighting potential predictive markers for DBS outcomes. Impact: Our findings highlight presurgical diffusion imaging as a sensitive predictor of DBS outcomes in ET patients, offering potential quantitative biomarkers to guide personalized surgical planning and enhance treatment outcomes.