The role of pallidotomy in the precision medicine era
RP emerges as a feasible rescue-therapy for severe medically refractory SD. Most patients show meaningful short-term improvement, but beneficial effects tend to decline over time, with high rate of SD recurrence-particularly in dyskinetic-CP. This may reflect suboptimal lesions' location and/or size, progressive disease course or re-emergence of dystonia through different networks. In this light, RP should be considered when DBS is contraindicated, the risk of hardware-related complications outweighs the advantages of an adjustable system, or in patients with limited life expectancy, where an irreversible yet effective rescue intervention is clinically justified.
Authors
- Donatella Lettori
- Giacomo Garone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-8536)
- Carlo Efisio Marras (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0790-8903)
- Silvia Cossu
- Flaminia Frascarelli
- Franco Randi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3061-0603)
- Alice Innocenti
- Laura Cantonetti
- A. Savioli
- Nicola Specchio
- Alessandro De Benedictis
- Simone Reali
- Nazaret Infante
Institutions
- Neurosciences Institute (US)
- Oasis of Hope Hospital (MX)
- Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital (IT)
- Hospital Del Mar (ES)
- Azienda Ospedaliera G. Brotzu (IT)
- KU Leuven (BE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Frontiers in Neurology
- Published
- 2026-02-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2026.1735969
- Primary Topic
- Neurological disorders and treatments
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Ministero della Salute
- Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca