WASHINGTON – June 21, 2012 - Patients with Parkinson’s disease who undergo deep brain stimulation (DBS)—a treatment in which a pacemaker-like device sends pulses to electrodes implanted in the brain—can expect stable improvement in muscle symptoms for at least three years, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study appearing in the most recent issue of the journal Neurology.“VA was proud to partner with the National Institutes of Health in this research,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “Our research on Parkinson’s helps ensure we continue to provide the best care possible for Veterans with this debilitating disease.”
VA cares for some 60,000 Veterans with the condition.
In DBS, surgeons implant electrodes in the brain and run thin wires under the skin to a pacemaker-like device. Electrical pulses from the battery-operated device jam the brain signals that cause muscle-related symptoms. Thousands of Americans have seen successful results from the procedure since it was first introduced in the late 1990s. But questions have remained about which stimulation site in the brain yields better outcomes, and over how many years the gains persist.
Initial results from the study appeared in 2009 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Based on the six-month outcomes of 255 patients, the researchers concluded that DBS is riskier than carefully managed drug therapy—because of the possibility of surgery complications—but may hold significant benefits for those with Parkinson’s who no longer respond well to medication alone. read more>>>
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