deep brain stimulation
WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. -- A Michigan hospital is embarking on a research study for advanced Parkinson's disease using a state-of-the-art treatment called gene transfer.
The clinical trial will test whether gene transfer therapy is able to restore better mobility in Parkinson's patients who have lost responsiveness to drug therapy.
NEW YORK (June 4, 2009) -- For patients with the most common form of hepatitis C, the addition of a hepatitis C-specific protease inhibitor called telaprevir to the current standard therapy can significantly improve the chances of being cured, and it does it in half the time of standard therapy alone.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Doctors may be able to tailor a specialized form of brain surgery to more closely match the needs of Parkinson patients, according to results from the first large-scale effort to compare the two current target areas of deep brain stimulation surgery, or DBS.
For many patients with advanced Parkinson's disease, deep brain stimulation can mean the difference between having difficulty walking and being able to run. Since its approval by the Food and Drug Administration in 1997, the treatment has been used by 20,000 patients with advanced Parkinson's disease or other movement disorders to help control their symptoms. Now, researchers have discovered that surgically implanting electrical stimulators on just one side of a patient's brain could help alleviate symptoms on both sides of the body, potentially cutting the surgery risk for some patients. The results are published in the October issue of the journal Motor Control.
A neurosurgical team at University Hospitals of Cleveland has, for the first time in North America, applied a new surgical approach to the treatment of Tourette syndrome, resulting in the immediate and nearly complete resolution of symptoms for the patient, who has suffered from this neurologic disorder since he was a child. "We were genuinely amazed at the patient's response," says Robert J. Maciunas, MD, neurosurgeon at UHC and professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He has used the technique called deep brain stimulation (DBS) for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and tremor, and was impressed with this patient's dramatic reaction: the disappearance of the jerking motions, muscle tics and grunting associated with his Tourette's.
Medical researchers have successfully reversed the progression of Parkinson's disease in rats through the use of gene therapy. By adding a gene for a single enzyme, they were able to reprogram brain circuits and halt the deterioration of dopamine-producing brain cells, one of the key problems in the disease. The lack of dopamine is what leads the the tell-tale shaking and muscle twitches of Parkinson's patients.
