Dear  List Members:
Diane has sent me loads of posts on this particular case.  I"m posting 2 of
them in the hope it will alleviate some of the fears people naturally have
about DBS.  I think I've mentioned that it stopped my tremors, but my voice
is worse and my fine motor skills and walking are still poor.  But I seem to
have plateaued.  The most interesting thing is that I am never depressed and
don't take any PD meds.  My computer guy, Jeff, says it is probably because
I am so busy "fighting" and digging a hole.  Before the DBS I never went out
to eat, it was too much trouble.  Anyway, I think DBS is worth a try at a
good place, of course.
Ray

New life for brain injury patient
Electrode implant success is startling
August 2, 2007
BY TOM AVRIL
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
PHILADELPHIA -- Six years after he was mugged while walking home one
night -- beaten and kicked and left for dead, his skull partially caved
in -- a man regained the ability to talk, chew and swallow after slender
electrodes were implanted deep in his brain.
The patient, whose unprecedented recovery took place at a rehabilitation
hospital in central New Jersey, had been in a minimally conscious state, and
his parents had all but given up hope. For years, he kept his eyes closed
most of the time, sometimes responding to questions with slight finger
movements or an occasional faint shake of the head. He was fed through a
tube.
Now 38, he is alert and can brush his hair and bring a cup to his mouth to
drink. Recently, he recited the first 16 words of the Pledge of Allegiance.
"He can cry and he can laugh," his mother said tearfully Wednesday, joining
in a teleconference with her son's doctors. "He can say, 'I love you,
Mommy.' "
The doctors cautioned that their results, reported in today's issue of the
journal Nature, would not apply to patients such as Terri Schiavo, the
Florida woman whose life became a sociopolitical flashpoint in 2005.
She was in a persistent vegetative state, whereas the male patient -- whose
identity is not being made public -- was clinging to consciousness and had
large regions of his brain intact. Schiavo received a similar implant, but
it had no effect.
The operation described in the new study, the first such implant in a
minimally conscious patient, could offer hope for the families of thousands
who have similar brain injuries.
The patient's mother expressed hope that her son's success might translate
to some wounded soldiers returning from Iraq. Traumatic brain injury has
been called the signature injury of the war, as soldiers who might once have
bled to death are surviving with the help of body armor and other advances.
Researchers warned that their study involved just one patient to date,
though 11 more are to receive implants under special approval from the Food
and Drug Administration.
Still, the results are encouraging, said Ashwini Sharan, a neurosurgeon at
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia who was not involved
with the study. Doctors have long told families that no effective treatment
exists for brain injuries, he said.
"We have to go think about all these people we forgot," Sharan said.
Though they are still a thing of the future for people with brain injuries,
40,000 electrodes have been successfully implanted in people with various
illnesses. Most have Parkinson's disease. Scientists do not know exactly why
the process works, but the electrodes transmit a current that seems to block
the abnormal signals that cause a patient to have tremors.
The electrodes are inserted into a region of the brain called the
subthalamic nucleus. The patient has electrodes permanently implanted in a
region located just above that called the thalamus. In both cases, the
current is delivered from pacemaker-like devices implanted in the chest.
Such devices also are undergoing clinical trials in patients who have mental
illness, including severe forms of depression and anxiety. And Sharan said
he has participated in a trial of the device for patients with epilepsy.
.
Rayilyn Brown
Board Member AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson's Foundation
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