Helen Bronte-Stewart

Clinical Focus

• Neurology

Professional Education

• UCSF Medical Center (1992) CA
• Board Certification: Neurology, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (1991)
• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (1988) PA US
• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (1985) PA
• University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (1984) PA
• BA, University of York, England Mathematics and physics
• MSE, University of Pennsylvania Bioengineering
• MD, University of Pennsylvania Medicine

Postdoctoral Advisees

• Julie Nantel, Camille deSolages

Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations

• Neurosciences
• Neurosurgery
• Bioengineering

Research Interests

My research focus is human motor control and brain pathophysiology in movement disorders. Our overall goal is to understand the role of the basal ganglia electrical activity in the pathogenesis of movement disorders. We have developed novel computerized technology to measure fine, limb and postural movement. With these we are measuring local field potentials in basal ganglia nuclei in patients with Parkinson's disease and dystonian and correlating brain signalling with motor behavior.

Clinical Trials

• Safety and Efficacy Study of GAD Gene Transfer Therapy in Parkinson's disease Recruiting

Publications

• Quantitative lateralized measures of bradykinesia at different stages of Parkinson's disease: the role of the less affected side. Louie S,  Koop MM, Frenklach A, Bronte-Stewart H.  Mov Disord.  2009; 24 (13): 1991-7
• Excessive postural sway and the risk of falls at different stages of Parkinson's disease. Frenklach A,  Louie S, Koop MM, Bronte-Stewart H.  Mov Disord.  2009; 24 (3): 377-85
• The STN beta-band profile in Parkinson's disease is stationary and shows prolonged attenuation after deep brain stimulation. Bronte-Stewart H,  Barberini C, Koop MM, Hill BC, Henderson JM, Wingeier B.  Exp Neurol.  2009; 215 (1): 20-8
• Hybrid cars may interfere with implanted deep brain stimulators. Chen C,  Cole W, Bronte-Stewart HM.  Mov Disord.  2009;
• Quantitative measures of fine motor, limb, and postural bradykinesia in very early stage, untreated Parkinson's disease. Koop MM,  Shivitz N, Brontë-Stewart H.  Mov Disord.  2008; 23 (9): 1262-8
• Intra-operative STN DBS attenuates the prominent beta rhythm in the STN in Parkinson's disease. Wingeier B,  Tcheng T, Koop MM, Hill BC, Heit G, Bronte-Stewart HM.  Exp Neurol.  2006; 197 (1): 244-51
• Bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation improves certain aspects of postural control in Parkinson's disease, whereas medication does not. Shivitz N,  Koop MM, Fahimi J, Heit G, Bronte-Stewart HM.  Mov Disord.  2006; 21 (8): 1088-97
• Improvement in a quantitative measure of bradykinesia after microelectrode recording in patients with Parkinson's disease during deep brain stimulation surgery. Koop MM,  Andrzejewski A, Hill BC, Heit G, Bronte-Stewart HM.  Mov Disord.  2006; 21 (5): 673-8
• Quantitative measurements of alternating finger tapping in Parkinson's disease correlate with UPDRS motor disability and reveal the improvement in fine motor control from medication and deep brain stimulation. Taylor Tavares AL,  Jefferis GS, Koop M, Hill BC, Hastie T, Heit G, Bronte-Stewart HM.  Mov Disord.  2005; 20 (10): 1286-98
• The North American survey of placement and adjustment strategies for deep brain stimulation. Ondo WG,  Bronte-Stewart H.  Stereotact Funct Neurosurg.  2005; 83 (4): 142-7
• The functional organization of the sensorimotor region of the subthalamic nucleus. Romanelli P,  Bronte-Stewart H, Heit G, Schaal DW, Esposito V.  Stereotact Funct Neurosurg.  2004; 82 (5-6): 222-9
• Microelectrode recording revealing a somatotopic body map in the subthalamic nucleus in humans with Parkinson disease. Romanelli P,  Heit G, Hill BC, Kraus A, Hastie T, Brontë-Stewart HM.  J Neurosurg.  2004; 100 (4): 611-8
• Parkinson's Disease: Surgical Options. Bronte-Stewart H,  Curr Treat Options Neurol.  2003; 5 (2): 131-147
• Possible necessity for deep brain stimulation of both the ventralis intermedius and subthalamic nuclei to resolve Holmes tremor. Case report. Romanelli P,  Brontë-Stewart H, Courtney T, Heit G.  J Neurosurg.  2003; 99 (3): 566-71
• Surgical therapy for dystonia. Bronte-Stewart H,  Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep.  2003; 3 (4): 296-305
• Postural instability in idiopathic Parkinson's disease: the role of medication and unilateral pallidotomy. Bronte-Stewart HM,  Minn AY, Rodrigues K, Buckley EL, Nashner LM.  Brain.  2002; 125 (Pt 9): 2100-14
• The cerebrospinal fluid production rate is reduced in dementia of the Alzheimer's type. Silverberg GD,  Heit G, Huhn S, Jaffe RA, Chang SD, Bronte-Stewart H, Rubenstein E, Possin K, Saul TA.  Neurology.  2001; 57 (10): 1763-6
• Quantitative digitography (QDG): a sensitive measure of digital motor control in idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Bronte-Stewart HM,  Ding L, Alexander C, Zhou Y, Moore GP.  Mov Disord.  2000; 15 (1): 36-47
• Concurrent Parkinson tremors. Moore GP,  Ding L, Bronte-Stewart HM.  J Physiol.  2000; 529 Pt 1 273-81