Brain stimulation deep is a promising alternative to drugs to correct symptoms of Parkinson disease like tremors. This surgical technique improves motor performance by 70% and reduces drug treatments by 40 to 60%. These good results have been observed in patients with Saint-Etienne University Hospital in France. Deep brain stimulation has been practiced there since May 2015 after being invented at the Grenoble University Hospital.
At the Saint-Etienne University Hospital, two patients with Parkinson’s disease benefited from the deep stimulation. After a first successful operation a year ago, a second patient underwent surgery in June 2016 at the Saint-Etienne CHU and is currently monitored by the neurology department.
The Saint-Etienne University Hospital affirms that results are “stable over time and persist for at least 5 years after the operation “, with a notable improvement in the patient’s quality of life.
Two electrodes in the brain to correct Parkinson’s symptoms
The surgery is performed under general anesthesia. It consists of implanting two electrodes in the brain (one electrode in each hemisphere). These are connected to a stimulator (or electric battery) placed under the skin in the chest or stomach. “The electrodes are positioned in a small structure located deep in the brain, the subthalamic nucleus, which is involved in the regulation of movements and whose stimulation makes it possible to correct the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease”, explains the CHU de Saint Etienne.
Deep brain stimulation could be applied to other disabling, neurological (essential tremor, dystonias) or psychiatric (obsessive-compulsive disorders) diseases.
There are 8,000 new cases of Parkinson’s disease each year in France. It affects 2% of the population after 60 years.
Read also: Parkinson’s: migraine sufferers twice as vulnerable
Brain stimulation: two techniques that heal
Singing improves symptoms of Parkinson’s disease
