Deep Brain Stimulation for Refractory Epilepsy: A Meta-Analysis of Stimulation Parameters

Epilepsy affects 50 million people worldwide, with 30% not responding to antiepileptic drugs. Surgical resective intervention may help some patients, and neuromodulation therapies like deep brain stimulation are becoming important treatments for poorly controlled epilepsy. This study conducted a meta analysis following the PRISMA guidelines, searching PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases for studies on deep brain stimulation in drug-resistant epilepsy patients. After screening 568 papers based on their titles and abstracts, we excluded systematic reviews, meta-analyses, animal studies, and other criteria. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts for eligibility, and disagreements were resolved by a third reviewer. Full-text screening and data extraction were then performed for further assessment. Total of 52 studies were analyzed for a meta-analysis. These studies involved 748 patients and looked at various interventions, such as anterior nucleus thalamus, centromedian thalamic, and hypothalamus, with different stimulation parameters, including frequency and type. The results showed moderate variability and indicated that voltage, frequency, and stimulation type significantly influenced the success rates of the interventions.