What should I think about if I have deep brain stimulation?

A neurologist with special training in Parkinson's disease is most often the best kind of doctor to make a decision about deep brain stimulation. If you might benefit from the operation, your neurologist can refer you to a brain surgeon with experience doing the surgery.

Deep brain stimulation may be considered as an addition to levodopa therapy, not a replacement for it. It does not cure Parkinson's disease and does not eliminate the need for medicine. The surgery can help maintain and extend the benefits of levodopa therapy. But it should not be considered for people with Parkinson's disease who also respond poorly to levodopa therapy.

One of the possible advantages of deep brain stimulation over "lesional" surgery for Parkinson's disease (such as pallidotomy) is that it can be reversed. Although the effects of lesional surgery, which involves creating a lesion or intentionally destroying a small portion of the brain, are permanent, the electrodes used in deep brain stimulation can be turned off or removed if they cause problems.

Deep brain stimulation for tremor caused by multiple sclerosis (MS) is still experimental, expensive and not widely available.