New Deep Brain Stimulation Area for Parkinson's

A new report in the June issue of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry shows that deep brain stimulation targeted to a different brain area can improve the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder that usually leads to movement problems. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) involves imlanting a small electrode device inside the brain to send controlled jolts of electricity. For this specific study the researchers targeted the Ventral intermediate (Vim) thalamic region. Previous studies with deep brain stimulation have shown the it can be effective for certain symptoms of parkinson's disease, but improvement in essential tremor have been inconsistent.

The researchers followed the patients with the deep brain stimulation devices for approximately 6.6 years after they underwent surgery. The tremor scores as measured by a common parkinson's rating scale were improved more when the deep brain stimulation device was turned on compared to when it was turned off. Other motor symptoms scores were not improved as much, indicating this treatment is relatively selective in its beneficial effects. This may become a new treatment modality for improving the symptoms of parkinson's disease. You can read the abstract of the study at this site.

Results: Tremor was still effectively controlled by DBS and appendicular rigidity and akinesia remained stable compared with baseline. Axial scores (speech, gait and postural instability), however, worsened, and in parallel the initial improvement in activities of daily living scores at the 1 year follow-up had disappeared at 6 years, despite sustained improvement of tremor. Remarkably, neither daily doses of dopaminergic medication nor fluctuations and dyskinesias had changed at 6 years compared with baseline in this particular patient group

Source:
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2008;79:694-699