Deep brain stimulation in pediatric dystonia: calls for therapeutic realism over nihilism

Purpose Pediatric dystonia (PD) has a significant negative impact on the growth and development of the child. This study was done retrospectively to analyze functional outcomes in pediatric patients with dystonia who underwent deep brain stimulation. Methods In this retrospective analytical study, all the patients of age less than 18 years undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS) for dystonia between 2012 and 2020 in a single center were analyzed and their functional outcomes were measured by the Burke–Fahn–Marsden-dystonia-rating-scale (BFMDRS). Results A total of 10 pediatric patients were included with a mean age of onset, duration of disease, and age at surgery being 5.75 years, 7.36 years, and 13.11 years, respectively, with a mean follow-up of 23.22 months. The mean pre-DBS motor score was 75.44 ± 23.53 which improved significantly at 6-month and 12-month follow-up to 57.27 ( p value 0.004) and 50.38 ( p value