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Medtronic Device Is Shown To Ease Parkinson's Symptoms Published November 13, 2003 Medtronic Incorporated's implanted brain-stimulating device helps Parkinson's disease patients move and allows them to control the condition for at least five years, according to a study published in today's (Nov. 13) New England Journal of Medicine. The Activa system isn't a cure and doesn't stop all symptoms of the disease from worsening, said pioneering researchers in Grenoble, France, who adapted the heart-pacemaker technology for Parkinson's patients in 1993. Even so it offers such advantages as allowing patients to reduce their levels of levodopa, a drug that can affect motor skills and cause involuntary movements. Patients who aren't helped by medicines or who suffer side effects may benefit the most from Activa, researchers said. The device, about the size of a stopwatch, sends constant electric shocks deep into the brain to help rebalance and control movement in patients with the degenerative disease. "The unique contribution of stimulation therapy is the marked and sustained effect it has on the disabling motor complications that are associated with levodopa therapy," said Anthony Lang of the University of Toronto in an article that accompanied the report. "Its efficacy is no greater." Medtronic, the world's biggest maker of pacemakers, provided a grant to one of the researchers. Other support for the study came from the French ministry of health and other European government agencies and universities. Activa won U.S. approval in 1997. Shares of Fridley-based Medtronic rose 52 cents to $44.37 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The company separately said Wednesday that its fiscal second-quarter profit rose 58 percent, helped by sales of heart devices. SOURCE: Bloomberg News / Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/4209307.html * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn