I had a grandma who died during a brain op  when the scalpel slipped,  though 
that was a tumour not dbs.  The surgeon was experienced but it's  fiddly in 
there.
 
 
In a message dated 19/04/2007 07:03:35 GMT Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

LIke  Greg I've had Pd for around 12 years aand take meds evvery 2 hrs.MY 
biggeest  problem is dyskinesia A couple of neuros thought I would be a gtood  
candidate--despite my age, weight,anemia,etc.

Afterr a lot of  research.I was evaluated at the Cleveland Clinic.My concerns 
were theirs and I  elected not to have the surgery.Surgery under the best of 
conditions has risks  and the thought of someone entering my head was not a 
pleasant  one.

There are people who have benefited and hav been most  pleased. Frankly,I 
think of pallidotomy.,that I don;t think is probablu done  anymore.

The best advise i got was from Margret Tuchman,who said  "you can listen to 
your friends,family and the medical people,but it is youir  decision  and your 
head."

Best

"M.Schild"  <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Greg,
you have said it  all.
DBS was supposed to improve about 50% of PWPs. Now, ´serious´ people  say it 
is
useful to 5-15% of PWPs.
But of course, that is without  counting juicy profit...
Maryse cg JOhn 78,18


> I have had PD  for 12+ years and although I have to use a countdown timer
> watch to  make sure I redose my sinemet and comtan every 2 and 1/2 hours to
> make  sure I don't turn into a statue for a few hours as I get back "on" if
>  I am late with a redose, I still am not seriously considering DBS yet.  
That
> day may well come, but not yet.
>
> Yes, many lives  have been measurably improved by DBS surgery. But I have
> also known  many persons to have had to undergo successive surgeries because
> of  infection, persons whose voices have been severely damaged by a slight
>  misplacement of the lead wires during the surgery, as well as people  for
> whom the benefits were minimal at best. Not to mention this is  surgery to
> the midbrain with one's head bolted to an operating  table.
>
> I would also raise the question of why DBS is now being  promoted so heavily
> for early stage PD when it was originally promoted  as an option to be
> considered only when traditional PD medications had  ceased to be realiably
> effective. Just last night I saw an ad  extolling DBS for PD on television -
> the surgical version of the much  criticised "direct to patient" advertising
> by big Pharma for  prescription drugs like lipitor and celebrex and many
> others  (including now Requip).
>
> I may be cynical, but I think it is  important to realize that not only is
> DBS a big and very profitable  business these days, it is also a product
> which clearly has a shelf  life. That is, as encouraging clinical trials
> continue for ceregene,  spheramine, and other therapies that may soon
> actually retard or  reverse the progress of PD rather than merely mask
> symptoms (which is  as true for DBS brain surgery as it is for sinemet),
> physicians and  clinics and companies like Medtronic (which manufactures the
> equipment  used in the surgery) know that as soon as one of these new
> therapies  hits the market, the market for DBS will shrink faster than
> shallow  pool of water on a hot summer day. Market considerations drive the
>  promotion of any product, and DBS is nothing if not a product. And lest  we
> overestimate the purity of those in the medical and medical  products
> community, the recent scandal involving accusations of   payoffs in the
> millions to Doctors in Wisconsin by Medtronic sales  reps should serve as a
> sobering example that if Diogenes were still  wandering around looking for
> an honest man, he probably wouldn't start  with Hippocrates.
>
> For what it's worth,
>
>  Greg

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