Parkinson's Disease Treatment

Medicines are the most common treatment for Parkinson's disease. The goal is to correct the shortage of the brain chemical dopamine, which causes the symptoms of Parkinson's. The decision to start taking medicine, and which medicine to take, will be... Full Answer

Deep brain stimulation uses electrical impulses to stimulate a target area in the brain. The stimulation affects movement by altering the activity in that area of the brain. The procedure does not destroy any brain tissue. And stimulation can be stopped... Full Answer

Deep brain stimulation improves symptoms of tremor, stiffness, and slowness. The best predictor of which symptoms will improve with deep brain stimulation are those that improve with medications for Parkinson disease, such as levodopa, pramipexole, or... Full Answer

Unfortunately, deep brain stimulation is not a cure. It does improve many symptoms of Parkinson disease for many years -- up to 10 years in some patients. Symptoms of tremor, stiffness, and slowness are treated very well for many years, so that the... Full Answer

The most restrictive complication of deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery is brain hemorrhage. As part of brain mapping or placing the DBS electrode a blood vessel may rupture and lead to bleeding in the brain. This happens in about 1-3% of... Full Answer

In general there are a few broad indications for deep brain stimulation (DBS). A tremor that fails to respond adequately to medical treatment, fluctuations in symptoms as are common in later stages of Parkinson's disease, and disabling... Full Answer

The most common malfunction of an implanted deep brain stimulation (DBS) device is spread of electrical current from the area we want targeted to other areas. For example, spread of current to centers that control speech can cause slurred speech... Full Answer

Patients who undergo deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy should realize that DBS will not cure their condition. It merely is a treatment that may alleviate the symptoms of the condition. The patient also should be completely aware of the possible side... Full Answer

Doctors learned in the early 1950s that lesioning-or destroying-specific areas in the brain could be helpful in treating certain movement disorders. The symptoms often improved, when areas in the brain involved in the disorder were destroyed. Lesioning... Full Answer

Sadly, lesioning surgery was not always able to reduce negative symptoms, and sometimes it resulted in damaging side effects. One of lesioning surgery's main problems is that its effects are typically irreversible. A lesioned brain structure is generally... Full Answer