"PARKINSON'S SUFFERERS GAMBLE ON SURGERY WITH GREAT RISKS"
The New York Times' Gina Kolata (? A1 03/16/95) reported "A
surgical treatment for Parkinson's disease has dramatically helped
some patients with the debilitating disease, but, unknown to many
eager and desperate Parkinson's sufferers, the surgery has left
others paralyzed, blind, demented or comatose.
The surgery is pallidotomy, destruction of minute areas of the
brain that control movement. It is done in hopes of quelling the
rigidity, the jerking motions and the freezing in place that plague
people with Parkinson's.
Most medical experts believe that pallidotomies can help some
patients, relieving symptoms instantly, if only temporarily. But
the operation's success has been hard to quantify.
Although many patients have reported dramatic improvement in
their symptoms, others have gone home apparently feeling fine, only
to develop serious side effects over the next few days. In many,
the problem was caused by a brain hemorrhage after the operation,
leading to paralysis or blindness.
So far, the information, both positive and negative, is mostly
anecdotal." [end of excerpts]
