To characterize the prevalence of stimulation-related artifacts in intracranial recordings obtained from deep brain stimulation (DBS) devices, and to determine whether artifact occurrence varies by brain target or electrode contact.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a therapy for medication-refractory movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), essential tremor (ET), and dystonia. Modern devices can record intracranial signals to guide programming, but these recordings may be distorted by stimulation-related artifacts. We aim to quantify how frequently artifacts occur and their potential to falsely elevate electrophysiological activity.

742 recordings were analyzed: 85% PD, 9% ET, and 6% dystonia. Targets included GPi (68%), STN (22%) and VIM (10%). Stimulation-related artifacts were detected in 59 of 628 (9%) PD, 2 of 70 (3%) ET, and 1 of 44 (2%) dystonia recordings. Artifact prevalence differed significantly across targets, with GPi showing the highest proportion of artifact-positive recordings at approximately 11% (χ²=13.27, p=0.0013). Within each target, artifact distribution between E01 and E02 contacts was not significantly different (GPI: χ²=1.19, p=0.27; STN: χ²=1.57, p=0.21; VIM: χ²=1.78, p=0.18).