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Operation gives Parkinson's sufferers long-term relief WebPosted Thu Jun 8 04:15:29 2000 - TORONTO - Toronto researchers have found that the benefits of an extraordinary operation to help people suffering from Parkinson's disease can last for more than five years. In this week's New England Journal of Medicine, Toronto researchers report benefits from pallidotomy are long-term. The operation relieves tremors of the hands and feet and allows people with Parkinson's to move at more normal speed. Pallidotomy involves inserting an inserts an electrode into the patient's brain. An electrical current is used to locate then destroy a pea-sized part of the brain that causes symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The patient remains awake to help guide the surgeon through the maze of brain cells. Peter Kingston is one patient who has benefitted from pallidotomy. He has suffered with Parkinson's for 30 years and could could barely walk six years ago. The operation has given him back his mobility. "The surgery has turned back the clock on their illness," says Dr. Andres Lozano, a pioneer in Parkinson's research and one of the study's authors. "They've reverted back to the stage they were in their illness five years before, where they were more independent." The surgery isn't a cure. As the disease inevitably progresses, many people have to go back on medications. And the surgery has risks. "There are some patients, fortunately not in our hands, but in others who have died from this surgical intervention; there are patients who've had strokes and hemorrhages in the brain as a complication of this procedure," says Dr. Anthony Lang, a Toronto neurologist Still, Kingston says the risk was worth it now that he's back working at his regular job and enjoying walks he couldn't have managed before the operation. Copyright 2000 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved "http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/print.cgi?/news/2000/06/07/parkisnosn000607" janet paterson 53 now / 41 dx / 37 onset 613 256 8340 / PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada visit my website "a new voice" at: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/