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Lanier, You wrote: This article makes DBS sound very risky, especially for PWP's age 69 >or over. I have a tremor that is not helped at all by any of the PD meds, >and I am 65 now, thinking that DBS might be in my future,but I hope not for >many years. I would like your comments on the contents of this posting by >Linda >Herman? > >These are just a very small portion of the orginal post. Brain, Vol. 123, No. 10, 2091-2108, October 2000 Neuropsychological consequences of chronic bilateral stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus in Parkinson's disease Jean A. Saint-Cyr1,2,3, Lisa L. Trépanier1,4, Rajeev Kumar5, Andres M. Lozano2 and A. E. Lang1 >The major finding in the present study is that STN DBS puts elderly >patients at risk for cognitive impairment, even in the absence of any >signs of early or incipient dementia. In addition, the clinical motor >improvement may be quite modest in patients older than 69 years. --------------------------------------------- This article reported that additionally "Individual younger patients may also be at risk for cognitive and behavioural changes" I also think it would be helpful to hear professional reactions to this article, since it reports on possible negative side effects of bilateral STN that I don't think have been widely discussed before. I realize it's not enough just to go by an abstract or short summary of the conclusion, but parts of the article, especially discussion on the physiology of the procedure is beyond my understanding. I've downloaded a copy of the full article (about 30 pages), and will be glad to forward it. I don't mean to frighten anyone who may be considering this procedure, as I wrote earlier this is only one study and involved a small sample group. However, the authors are highly respected researchers in this field, and I think in order to be able to make informed decisions, we need all the presently available facts. Linda