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We PD folks made the news in a big way Monday when the Houston Chronicle did a front page story about us. The headline was "New procedure slows effects of Parkinson's," and a subtitle, "Surgery can restore balance to system." The story centered around Dr. Grossman, the chief of neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine and his pallidotomy operations. After an explaination of Parkinson's and a brief history, the reporter interviewed Grossman about the effects of the operation. His answers were the most balanced I have heard and worth passing along to you. "Patients no longer move with the maddening slowness nor do they suddenly freeze. But the results are varible, he says. And the operation is not without risk - the greatest being that the probe might stray into the optic nerve. But there is also the possibility of a stroke. It is not a technique to be undertaken lightly or by those lacking the full compliment of tools needed. In a study published in the April 1995 issue of the professional journal Neurology, physicians at New York University School of Medicine and Northshore University Hospital affiliated with Cornell Medical College compared the effects of pallidotomy with the most aggresive medical treatment in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease. Overall, the patients who underwent the pallidotomy had fewer involuntary movements than those who received medicine alone." There was also a full page layout with color pictures of the brain and lots of arrows showing where the problems are, a glossery of PD terms and am in depth interview with Dr. Joseph Jankovic, the movement disorder guru at Baylor College of Medicine. He discusses the British Eldepryl study, with a concluding thought that he wants to see another study done to see if the results can be repeated. My thoughts? Glad you asked. I'm glad it wasn't a glowing praise for the operation. Of the two folks who had the operation in the story, one had a stroke but is glad he went through with it and the other was "successful." I would have liked to see something about the person who had no or negative benefit. On the other hand, the coverage can do nothing but promote a better understanding of PD among the general public, meaning people like me 10 years ago when I had no understanding of PD. The Houston Chronicle is on the WWW somewhere for those who want to track down the story. I do Windows, but not http.