Study backs deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

'MAGNIFICENT BENEFITS'

Parkinson's disease is a brain disorder in which nerve cells in the brain that control muscle movement die, causing trembling, stiffness of the limbs and trunk, slowness of movement and impaired balance and coordination.

There is no cure and drugs used to control symptoms can lose their effectiveness over time or cause bad side effects, often leaving patients desperate to find a new approach.

Sharon Pederson, 51, a Northern California woman who got DBS in the study, said it restored her quality of life. "The bottom line for me is that without hope, you have nothing to go for with Parkinson's," Pederson said in a telephone interview arranged by Medtronic.

Deep brain stimulation was approved in 2002 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat Parkinson's, but only a small percentage of patients get it.

Marks, who has worked as a consultant to Medtronic, said DBS does not cure the disease or prevent it from worsening over time, and does not improve non-motor symptoms such as thinking, memory or speech problems. In fact, those who got DBS in the study had slightly lower performance on cognitive tests.

While the treatment is not appropriate for everyone with Parkinson's disease, "a surgery done on the right patient by the right team can have magnificent benefits that extend beyond what can be achieved with medicines alone," said Dr. Michael Okun of the National Parkinson Foundation.

The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and National Institutes of Health, with some additional funding from Medtronic.

(Editing by Julie Steenhuysen and Eric Beech)