Deep Brain Stimulation

Aetna covers unilateral or bilateral deep brain stimulation (e.g., VIM, GPi, STN) as DME only for disabling, medication-refractory essential tremor or Parkinson’s tremor when the patient has no dementia, severe depression, cerebral atrophy, or Hoehn & Yahr stage V disease, no other diagnosis explaining treatment failure, adequate residual upper-extremity motor function, no focal basal ganglia lesion at the target site, and with specific age limits for other indications (dystonia ≥7 years; ANT DBS for epilepsy ≥18 years with ≥6 seizures/month). DBS is excluded/considered experimental and investigational for tremor from other causes (e.g., trauma, MS), and for numerous other indications (e.g., Alzheimer’s, depression, chronic pain, Tourette’s, Huntington’s, etc.).

"F50."

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