A Pluridisciplinary Tracheostomy Weaning Protocol for Brain-Injured Patients, Outside of the Intensive Care Unit and Without Instrumental Assessment: Results of Pilot Study.

Concurrently to the recent development of percutaneous tracheostomy techniques in the intensive care unit (ICU), the amount of tracheostomized brain-injured patients has increased. Despites its advantages, tracheostomy may represent an obstacle to their orientation towards conventional hospitalization or rehabilitation services. To date, there is no recommendation for tracheostomy weaning outside of the ICU. We created a pluridisciplinary tracheostomy weaning protocol relying on standardized criteria but adapted to each patient's characteristics and that does not require instrumental assessment. It was tested in a prospective, single-centre, non-randomized cohort study. Inclusion criteria were age > 18 years, hospitalized for an acquired brain injury (ABI), tracheostomized during an ICU stay, and weaned from mechanical ventilation. The exclusion criterion was severe malnutrition. Decannulation failure was defined as recannulation within 96 h after decannulation. Thirty tracheostomized ABI patients from our neurosurgery department were successively and exhaustively included after ICU discharge. Twenty-six patients were decannulated (decannulation rate, 90%). None of them were recannulated (success rate, 100%). Two patients never reached the decannulation stage. Two patients died during the procedure. Mean tracheostomy weaning duration (inclusion to decannulation) was 7.6 (standard deviation [SD]: 4.6) days and mean total tracheostomy time (insertion to decannulation) was 42.5 (SD: 24.8) days. Our results demonstrate that our protocol might be able to determine without instrumental assessment which patient can be successfully decannulated. Therefore, it may be used safely outside ICU or a specialized unit. Moreover, our tracheostomy weaning duration is very short as compared to the current literature.

Is Spinal Cord Stimulation Still Effective After One or More Surgical Revisions?

OBJECTIVES: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is burdened with surgical complications that may require one or several surgical revision(s), challenging its risk/benefit ratio and cost-effectiveness. Our objective was to evaluate its outcome and efficacy after one or more SCS surgical revisions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We identified and retrospectively analyzed 116 patients treated by tonic paresthesia-based SCS who experienced one or more complication(s) requiring at least one surgical revision. Data collected included initial indication, revision indication, number of revisions, and lead design (paddle or percutaneous). Outcome after SCS revision was evaluated by pain intensity decrease (comparing baseline and postrevision Numerical Rating Scale [NRS] scores) and percentage of patients reporting pain relief ≥50%. Outcome was analyzed according to the number of surgical revisions and the revision indications. RESULTS: Most of the patients (61%) underwent only one revision (mean delay after implantation 44 months). The most frequent causes of revisions were hardware dysfunction (32%), lead migration (23%), and infection (18%). Revision(s) repaired the SCS issue in 87% of the cases. One year after the first revision, 82% of the patients reported pain relief ≥50%, and the mean NRS decrease was 4.0 compared with baseline (p < 0.001). Benefit of SCS revision tended to decrease with the number of revisions but did not differ across revision indications. No serious surgical complications related to the revision occurred, except for three hematomas occurring after repeated revisions. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that surgical revision of SCS system is safe and led to significant pain relief in most of the cases, provided that the initial indication was good and that the previous stimulation was effective. However, success of SCS revision decreases with the number of revisions.

Descriptive Epidemiology of Ependymal Tumors in Gironde, France: Results from the Gironde Registry for the 2000-2018 Period.

BACKGROUND: The Gironde Central Nervous System (CNS) Tumor Registry, in collaboration with the French National Cancer Institute, is the largest population-based registry focused exclusively on primary CNS tumors in France and represents a population of 1.62 million. This report focuses on ependymal tumors to refine current knowledge and provide up-to-date data on the epidemiology of these rare tumors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: All of the ependymal tumors were extracted from the Gironde CNS Tumor Registry for the years 2000-2018. Demographic and clinical characteristics, incidence rates, and time trends as well as survival outcomes were analyzed. RESULTS: One hundred forty-four ependymal tumors were retrieved, which represented 2.3% of all the CNS tumors recorded in the same period. Histological subtype was significantly dependent on age and topography in the CNS. The median age at diagnosis was 46 years. The annual incidence rates varied between 0.15/100,000 (2004) and 0.96/100,000 (2016), with a significant increase over the study period by 4.67% per year. Five-year and 10-year OS rates were 87% and 80%, respectively. CONCLUSION: An increase in the incidence of ependymal tumors was observed over the past two decades. Further studies are needed to confirm this result and provide etiological clues.

A case series of percutaneous transforamen ovale biopsies in cavernous sinus lesions.

BACKGROUND: The majority of cavernous sinus lesions are meningiomas, for which treatment (fractioned radiotherapy or radiosurgery), if indicated, is usually initiated upon image-based diagnosis. However, this region can be affected by a wide variety of pathological processes and the risk of misdiagnosis exists. As pathological diagnosis can be obtained by biopsy through the foramen ovale in selected cases, we asked the question as to whether systematically performing this procedure before treatment would provide additional, relevant diagnostic information. METHODS: All the cases referred to our department between January 2008 and December 2019 for cavernous sinus lesions that were considered for treatment and anatomically suitable for transforamen ovale biopsy were included. Outcomes and subsequent treatment or follow-up data were collected. RESULTS: Thirty-five patients were included. Twenty-six were highly suspected to have meningioma or schwannoma at imaging, among whom biopsy allowed diagnosis confirmation in 17 cases (65%). For the nine patients for whom biopsy was indicated upon suspected malignancy or inflammatory disease on imaging, biopsy revealed three meningiomas and one lymphoma and was not contributory in five cases (56%), three of which underwent open surgery. Three patients (8.5%) had persistent neuralgia at the last follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: When cavernous sinus meningioma or schwannoma is highly suspected upon predefined imaging criteria by an experienced neuroradiologist, invasive exploration before treatment does not seem to be indicated. Otherwise, transforamen ovale biopsy might be consider in selected cases as a minimally invasive option to obtain pathological analysis.

A Phase 2 Randomized Trial of Asleep versus Awake Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's Disease.

OBJECTIVE: Asleep deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's disease (PD) is being performed more frequently; however, motor outcomes and safety of asleep DBS have never been assessed in a prospective randomized trial. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, randomized, noncomparative trial to assess the motor outcomes of asleep DBS. Leads were implanted in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) according to probabilistic stereotactic coordinates with a surgical robot under O-arm© imaging guidance under either general anesthesia without microelectrode recordings (MER) (20 patients, asleep group) or local anesthesia with MER and clinical testing (9 patients, awake group). RESULTS: The mean motor improvement rates on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Part III (UPDRS-3) between OFF and ON stimulation without medication were 52.3% (95% CI: 45.4-59.2%) in the asleep group and 47.0% (95% CI: 23.8-70.2%) in the awake group, 6 months after surgery. Except for a subcutaneous hematoma, we did not observe any complications related to the surgery. Three patients (33%) in the awake group and 8 in the asleep group (40%) had at least one side effect potentially linked with neurostimulation. CONCLUSIONS: Owing to its randomized design, our study supports the hypothesis that motor outcomes after asleep STN-DBS in PD may be noninferior to the standard awake procedure.

How Should we Use Multicolumn Spinal Cord Stimulation to Optimize Back Pain Spatial Neural Targeting? A Prospective, Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind, Controlled Trial (ESTIMET Study).

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have highlighted multicolumn spinal cord stimulation (SCS) efficacy, hypothesizing that optimized spatial neural targeting provided by new-generation SCS lead design or its multicolumn programming abilities could represent an opportunity to better address chronic back pain (BP). OBJECTIVE: To compare multicolumn vs. monocolumn programming on clinical outcomes of refractory postoperative chronic BP patients implanted with SCS using multicolumn surgical lead. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twelve centers included 115 patients in a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. After randomization, leads were programmed using only one or several columns. The primary outcome was change in BP visual analogic scale (VAS) at six months. All patients were then programmed using the full potential of the lead up until 12-months follow-up. RESULTS: At six months, there was no significant difference in clinical outcomes whether the SCS was programmed using a mono or a multicolumn program. At 12 months, in all patients having been receiving multicolumn SCS for at least six months (n = 97), VAS decreases were significant for global pain (45.1%), leg pain (55.8%), and BP (41.5%) compared with baseline (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: The ESTIMET study confirms the significant benefit experienced on chronic BP by patients implanted with multicolumn SCS, independently from multicolumn lead programming. These good clinical outcomes might result from the specific architecture of the multicolumn lead, giving the opportunity to select initially the best column on a multicolumn grid and to optimize neural targeting with low-energy requirements. However, involving more columns than one does not appear necessary, once initial spatial targeting of the "sweet spot" has been achieved. Our findings suggest that this spatial concept could also be transposed to cylindrical leads, which have drastically improved their capability to shape the electrical field, and might be combined with temporal resolution using SCS new modalities.

Development of a standardized evaluation of endobuccal adverse events induced by repeated tongue protrusion with both a dedicated questionnaire and an endobuccal examination.

INTRODUCTION: A new approach to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is upper airway stimulation therapy (UAS). Electrical pulses applied to the hypoglossal nerve induce tongue protrusion, increase airway patency and decrease the frequency of apneic and hypopneic events. Thus, the main objective of this study was to design a standardized evaluation of endobuccal adverse events induced by repeated tongue protrusion with both a dedicated questionnaire and an endobuccal examination. METHOD: This study has designed the Tongue Adverse Event and Satisfaction Questionnaire (TAESQ) and an endobuccal examinations divided into an endobuccal lesion examination (ELE) and an endobuccal risk factor examination (ERFE). Evaluations were conducted at month 6 post-implantation. RESULTS: The study population after implantation of UAS device consisted of ten Caucasian males with a mean age of 51.9 ± 11.8 years, and a mean BMI of 28.6 ± 3.3. The AHI of the ten participants ranged from 46.7 ± 12.2/h at baseline to 14.5 ± 8.9/h with the Inspire therapy at the 6-month follow-up. The TAESQ revealed pain (30%), followed by less tongue sensitivity (20%) and tongue weakness (10%). The ELE did not reveal any lesions. The ERFE revealed that some participants had tissue and dental risk factors but not associated to more adverse events. CONCLUSION: The TAESQ, ELE and ERFE have been designed and studied on a small number of participants. These evaluations could systematically be included in the care pathway of patients treated by UAS to better investigate tongue discomfort and tongue lesion for patients treated with this technology.

Localization of Deep Brain Stimulation Electrode by Image Registration Is Software Dependent: A Comparative Study between Four Widely Used Software Programs.

BACKGROUND: The control of the anatomic position of the active contacts is essential to understand the effects and adapt the settings of the neurostimulation. The localization is commonly assessed by a registration between the preoperative MRI and the postoperative CT scan. However, its accuracy depends on the quality of the registration algorithm and many software programs are available. OBJECTIVE: To compare the localization of implanted deep brain stimulation (DBS) leads in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) between four registration devices. METHODS: The preoperative stereotactic MRI was co-registered and fused with the 3-month postoperative CT scan in 27 patients implanted in the STN for Parkinson's disease (53 leads). Localizations of the active contacts were calculated in the stereotactic frame space and compared between software programs. RESULTS: The coordinates of the active contacts were different between software programs in the 3 axes (p < 0.001) with a mean vectorial error between the deepest contact locations of 1.17 mm (95% CI 1.09-1.25). CONCLUSION: We found a small but significant difference in the coordinates calculated on four different devices. These results have to be considered when performing studies comparing active contact locations or when following patients with an implanted DBS lead.

Oculomotor nerve palsy induced by internal carotid artery aneurysm: prognostic factors for recovery.

BACKGROUND: Aneurysms at the posterior face of the internal carotid artery can lead to oculomotor nerve palsy (ONP) with an uncertain prognosis of recovery post-treatment. The aim of this study was to define the prognostic factors for ONP recovery, with particular interest in treatment modality (surgery or endovascular techniques). METHOD: A literature review was performed to select the most pertinent prognostic factors. A retrospective study was then performed to determine whether these factors had significantly modified the prognosis of ONP recovery in our series of patients. RESULTS: In the literature, factors linked to poorer outcome were age, vascular risk factors, initial ONP severity and delay before treatment; better recovery was associated with surgical treatment. Between 2000 and 2013, 23 consecutive patients were treated in our department for ONP-inducing aneurysms: 14 by endovascular embolization and 9 by surgical clipping and aneurysm puncture. Mean follow-up was 48.8 months. After treatment, overall recovery occurred in 87% of cases, always within 6 months. Apart from treatment modality, no selected prognostic factor significantly modified the quality or timing of ONP recovery. In the endovascular group, four patients recovered completely, seven partially and three did not recover. In the surgical group, seven patients recovered completely and two partially. Surgery was significantly associated with a more complete and earlier ONP recovery (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Surgery was associated with a more complete and earlier ONP recovery as compared to endovascular treatment, confirming the results of previous studies. However, conclusions must be confirmed by a prospective randomized study.

A systematic review of studies on anatomical position of electrode contacts used for chronic subthalamic stimulation in Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND: The dorso-lateral part of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is considered as the usual target of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease. Nevertheless, the exact anatomical location of the electrode contacts used for chronic stimulation is still a matter of debate. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review of the existing literature on this issue. METHOD: We searched for studies on the anatomical location of active contacts published until December 2012. RESULTS: We identified 13 studies, published between 2002 and 2010, including 260 patients and 466 electrodes. One hundred and sixty-four active contacts (35 %) were identified within the STN, 117 (25 %) at the interface between STN and the surrounding structures, 184 (40 %) above the STN and one within the substantia nigra. We observed great discrepancies between the different series. The contra-lateral improvement was between 37 and 78.5 % for contacts located within the STN, between 48.6 and 73 % outside the STN, between 65.3 and 66 % at the interface. The authors report no clear correlation between anatomical location and stimulation parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Post-operative analysis of the anatomical location of active contacts is difficult, and all the methods used are debatable. The relationship between the anatomical location of active contacts and the clinical effectiveness of stimulation is unclear. It would be necessary to take into account the volume of the electrode contacts and the diffusion of the stimulation. We can nevertheless assume that the interface between dorso-lateral STN, zona incerta and Forel's fields could be directly involved in the effects of stimulation.

Usefulness of thalamic beta activity for closed-loop therapy in essential tremor.

A partial loss of effectiveness of deep brain stimulation of the ventral intermediate nucleus of the thalamus (VIM) has been reported in some patients with essential tremor (ET), possibly due to habituation to permanent stimulation. This study focused on the evolution of VIM local-field potentials (LFPs) data over time to assess the long-term feasibility of closed-loop therapy based on thalamic activity. We performed recordings of thalamic LFPs in 10 patients with severe ET using the ACTIVA™ PC + S (Medtronic plc.) allowing both recordings and stimulation in the same region. Particular attention was paid to describing the evolution of LFPs over time from 3 to 24 months after surgery when the stimulation was Off. We demonstrated a significant decrease in high-beta LFPs amplitude during movements inducing tremor in comparison to the rest condition 3 months after surgery (1.91 ± 0.89 at rest vs. 1.27 ± 1.37 µV2/Hz during posture/action for N = 8/10 patients; p = 0.010), 12 months after surgery (2.92 ± 1.75 at rest vs. 2.12 ± 1.78 µV2/Hz during posture/action for N = 7/10 patients; p = 0.014) and 24 months after surgery (2.32 ± 0.35 at rest vs 0.75 ± 0.78 µV2/Hz during posture/action for 4/6 patients; p = 0.017). Among the patients who exhibited a significant decrease of high-beta LFP amplitude when stimulation was Off, this phenomenon was observed at least twice during the follow-up. Although the extent of this decrease in high-beta LFPs amplitude during movements inducing tremor may vary over time, this thalamic biomarker of movement could potentially be usable for closed-loop therapy in the long term.

Comparison of long-term outcomes of patients with severe traumatic or hypoxic brain injuries treated with intrathecal baclofen therapy for dysautonomia.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To compare the long-term outcome of patients with severe traumatic brain injury and patients with hypoxic brain injury with dysautonomia and hypertonia treated with intrathecal baclofen therapy. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Fifty-three patients with severe traumatic (n = 43/53) or hypoxic (n = 10/53) brain injuries treated by intrathecal baclofen therapy were included to be evaluated with the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised, the Barthel Index, the Glasgow Outcome Scale, the Ashworth scale, the scores of hypertonic attacks, of sweating episode and of voluntary motor responses. A retrospective analysis highlighted patients' characteristics at admission and before surgery and their complications. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: After a mean follow-up time of 9.6 years, 13/53 (24.5%) patients had died. Alive patients with traumatic brain injury had a higher level of consciousness recovery (p < 0.02) and more abilities in activities of daily living (p < 0.008) in the long-term. Their dysautonomia and limb hypertonia also significantly improved, contrary to patients with hypoxic brain injury who needed higher doses of baclofen (p < 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: At long-term follow-up, patients with hypoxic brain injury had a poorer functional outcome than patients with traumatic brain injury with persistent symptoms of dysautonomia associated with uncontrolled hypertonia, despite the use of intrathecal baclofen.

A 10-year follow-up study of patients with severe traumatic brain injury and dysautonomia treated with intrathecal baclofen therapy.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To describe the long-term disorders of consciousness in patients with dysautonomia and hypertonia treated with intrathecal baclofen therapy (IBT). METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Forty-three patients with severe traumatic brain injuries who were previously implanted with an intrathecal baclofen pump were included to be evaluated in the long-term with the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised. The Barthel Index, the Glasgow Outcome Scale, the Ashworth scale, the scores of hypertonic attacks, of sweating episodes and of voluntary motor responses were used to describe functional abilities and residual impairments. A retrospective analysis highlighted patients' characteristics at admission, before surgery and their complications. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: After a mean follow-up of 10 years, nine of 43 (20.9%) patients had died, 13/43 (30.2%) patients were severely disabled or in an unresponsive wakefulness syndrome and 21/43 (48.8%) patients had good recovery of consciousness. The latter patients tended to receive IBT later, suggesting a later development of uncontrolled symptoms of dysautonomia and hypertonia. They needed lower doses of baclofen, suggesting that they had less severe symptoms. Their dysautonomia, limb hypertonia and voluntary motor responses improved significantly compared to patients with poor outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Recovery of good long-term consciousness is possible. A low level of consciousness recovery and the early development of severe and persistent symptoms of dysautonomia associated with hypertonia could be linked to poor long-term outcome.

Combining Awake Anesthesia with Minimal Invasive Surgery Optimizes Intraoperative Surgical Spinal Cord Stimulation Lead Placement.

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is an effective and validated treatment to address chronic refractory neuropathic pain in persistent spinal pain syndrome-type 2 (PSPS-T2) patients. Surgical SCS lead placement is traditionally performed under general anesthesia due to its invasiveness. In parallel, recent works have suggested that awake anesthesia (AA), consisting of target controlled intra-venous anesthesia (TCIVA), could be an interesting tool to optimize lead anatomical placement using patient intra-operative feedback. We hypothesized that combining AA with minimal invasive surgery (MIS) could improve SCS outcomes. The goal of this study was to evaluate SCS lead performance (defined by the area of pain adequately covered by paraesthesia generated via SCS), using an intraoperative objective quantitative mapping tool, and secondarily, to assess pain relief, functional improvement and change in quality of life with a composite score. We analyzed data from a prospective multicenter study (ESTIMET) to compare the outcomes of 115 patients implanted with MIS under AA (MISAA group) or general anesthesia (MISGA group), or by laminectomy under general anesthesia (LGA group). All in all, awake surgery appears to show significantly better performance than general anesthesia in terms of patient pain coverage (65% vs. 34-62%), pain surface (50-76% vs. 50-61%) and pain intensity (65% vs. 35-40%), as well as improved secondary outcomes (quality of life, functional disability and depression). One step further, our results suggest that MISAA combined with intra-operative hypnosis could potentialize patient intraoperative cooperation and could be proposed as a personalized package offered to PSPS-T2 patients eligible for SCS implantation in highly dedicated neuromodulation centers.

The mamillothalamic tract is a good landmark for the anterior border of the subthalamic nucleus on axial MR images.

BACKGROUND: Identification of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) on MR images is difficult, and the use of external landmarks could be of interest for STN targeting in deep brain stimulation (DBS). OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to explore the relationship between the anteroposterior coordinates of (1) the center of the mamillothalamic tract and (2) the anterior border of the STN on axial MR images. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The brains of 16 healthy volunteers were imaged on a 3T MR system. Four millimeters under the anterior-posterior commissure plane, we noted the y coordinates of (1) the center of the mamillothalamic tract and (2) the anterior border of the STN. RESULTS: The coordinates were y(STN) = 14.7 ± 1.23 mm and y(Tmth) = 14.3 ± 1.13 mm from the posterior commissure for the STN and the mamillothalamic tract, respectively. The mean difference was 0.4 mm (range 0-1 mm). Pearson's coefficient was 0.97 (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: We observed a strong correlation between the anteroposterior coordinates of the mamillothalamic tract and the anterior border of the STN (which is located between 0 and 1 mm in front of the mamillothalamic tract). The mamillothalamic tract could be a good anterior landmark for STN targeting. It could also be tested for target determination in DBS for severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Primate models of dystonia.

Several models of dystonia have emerged from clinical studies providing a comprehensive explanation for the pathophysiology of this movement disorder. However, several points remain unclear notably concerning the specific role of brainstem, basal ganglia nuclei and premotor cortex. We review data collected in sub-human primate to see whether they might provide new insights into the pathophysiology of dystonia. As in human patients, lesions of the putamen induce dystonia, as well as pharmacological manipulations of the dopaminergic system. In addition, primate studies revealed that lesions in brain stem areas involved in the control of muscular tone and GABAergic manipulations in various basal ganglia nuclei or thalamus also lead to dystonia. Moreover, there is a dramatic disruption in the processing of proprioceptive information with abnormal large receptive fields in the basal ganglia, thalamus, primary somesthetic cortex and premotor cortex of dystonic monkeys. These data highlight the idea that dystonia is associated with aberrant sensory representations interfering with motor control. Considering that the supplementary motor area (SMAp) is the target of basal ganglia projections within the motor loop, we propose a model of dystonia in which abnormal excitability, associated with alteration in sensory receptive fields within the SMAp, leads to an abnormal synchronization between primary motor cortex columns. Such a phenomenon might account for the co-contractions of antagonist muscles favored by action and the abnormal postures observed in dystonia.

Prediction of Clinical Deep Brain Stimulation Target for Essential Tremor From 1.5 Tesla MRI Anatomical Landmarks.

Background: Deep brain stimulation is an efficacious treatment for refractory essential tremor, though targeting the intra-thalamic nuclei remains challenging. Objectives: We sought to develop an inverse approach to retrieve the position of the leads in a cohort of patients operated on with optimal clinical outcomes from anatomical landmarks identifiable by 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging. Methods: The learning database included clinical outcomes and post-operative imaging from which the coordinates of the active contacts and those of anatomical landmarks were extracted. We used machine learning regression methods to build three different prediction models. External validation was performed according to a leave-one-out cross-validation. Results: Fifteen patients (29 leads) were included, with a median tremor improvement of 72% on the Fahn-Tolosa-Marin scale. Kernel ridge regression, deep neural networks, and support vector regression (SVR) were used. SVR gave the best results with a mean error of 1.33 ± 1.64 mm between the predicted target and the active contact position. Conclusion: We report an original method for the targeting in deep brain stimulation for essential tremor based on patients' radio-anatomical features. This approach will be tested in a prospective clinical trial.

Evaluation of a virtual agent to train medical students conducting psychiatric interviews for diagnosing major depressive disorders.

BACKGROUND: A psychiatric diagnosis involves the physician's ability to create an empathic interaction with the patient in order to accurately extract semiology (i.e., clinical manifestations). Virtual patients (VPs) can be used to train these skills but need to be evaluated in terms of accuracy, and to be perceived positively by users. METHODS: We recruited 35 medical students who interacted in a 35-min psychiatric interview with a VP simulating major depressive disorders. Semiology extraction, verbal and non-verbal empathy were measured objectively during the interaction. The students were then debriefed to collect their experience with the VP. RESULTS: The VP was able to simulate the conduction of a psychiatric interview realistically, and was effective to discriminate students depending on their psychiatric knowledge. Results suggest that students managed to keep an emotional distance during the interview and show the added value of emotion recognition software to measure empathy in psychiatry training. Students provided positive feedback regarding pedagogic usefulness, realism and enjoyment in the interaction. LIMITATIONS: Our sample was relatively small. As a first prototype, the measures taken by the VP would need improvement (subtler empathic questions, levels of difficulty). The face-tracking technique might induce errors in detecting non-verbal empathy. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to simulate a realistic psychiatric interview and to measure both skills needed by future psychiatrists: semiology extraction and empathic communication. Results provide evidence that VPs are acceptable by medical students, and highlight their relevance to complement existing training and evaluation tools in the field of affective disorders.