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Raymond Strand wrote: > > I have been in contact with an old friend of mine (Minnesota). > He has been a free-lance technical writer for Medtronics (Minnesota > company). > He has had some work that relates to D B S. > My friend is not a decision maker with the company, but, > will let me know what is going on with new developments as they happen. > Any major developments, will be available as news releases, > and therefore available to the list through that route. It has been a good experience for him to talk to me, because > knowing someone with Parkinsons puts a face it. > Perry Cohen wrote: > > > > Almost one year after the unanimous recommendation for approval by the FDa > > Advisory Committee (I was non-voting patient representative), DBS is NOT yet > > approved by FDA. It is only available under experimental protocols. While > > neither the sponsor nor the FDA have made public what the concerns have been, > > both have reported that they are working very hard to resolve the issues. I > > believe that some missing data and other additional information requested at the > > hearing has been at least part of the problem. Our PIENET Fellow-Traveler Chris van der Linden has told us that DBS is already approved in Europe and that he thinks conventional pallidotomy is obsolete. In the abundant published research reports I see little or no adverse effects, other than risks of bleeding, infection, or other injury that are common to any invasive brain surgery. However it seems that precisely how DBS performs its miracle, and the precise location of the stimulating electrode(s) that is best for any given array of PD symptoms, are, unlike the counterpart knowledge about pallidotomy, still under very intensive investigation. Cheers, Joe -- J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694 3527 Cody Road Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn