Figure 1.

The therapeutic window depends on stimulation parameters and the electrode configuration. In tripartite electrodes, the therapeutic window should be determined for each segment individually by examining the beneficial and adverse effects with increasing the stimulation amplitude under defined pulse width and frequency (A). The therapeutic window in DBS is defined as the gap between the minimum stimulation current required to produce adverse effects and the current required to produce a beneficial effect. Similar to pharmacologic intervention, DSB is a tradeoff between beneficial and adverse effects. Numerous stimulation parameters, as well as the anatomical position of the respective contact, affect the therapeutic window. As a consequence, each electrode contact and each combination of pulse width and frequency thus has an individual therapeutic window (B).