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Keith Bea wrote: >Just this morning I have seen two messages that may be related to electr= ic >shock treatment (ECT) for PD. One referred to "deep brin stimulation" >(spelling for brain?) and "deep thalmatic stimulation". I rarely see > references >to ECT for PD on this listserv. Are these other terms for ECT? Also, I >presume that past references to "magnetic" therapy do not involve ECT,=20 righ>t? >Thanks. No Keith, neither topic was referencing ECT (I believe). Magnetic therapy is discussed in the following blurb (there is a lot of=20 info. on this alternative treatment, both pro and con): =20 ...the next time you stub your toe or scrape your knee, try pulling a magnet off the refrigerator and putting it on the wound. It may sound crazy, but some doctors believe it relieves pain. "I couldn=92t do anything. I couldn=92t stretch. I couldn=92t run. I coul= dn=92t work out."=94Chris Weis, Agoura Hills, CA To look at Chris Weis today, you=92d never suspect that just a few months ago, she could barely walk. "I was in pain constantly. The way that I tore my hamstring, it was so severe. My hamstring was ripped off the bone.=94" Chris refused to take traditional pain-killers. Instead, she turned to a special kind of a magnet to draw out her discomfort. We used the magnet in the lower back area over the sacroiliac joints. She showed responses within a week or two. Very=20 quickly.=94Ronald Lawrence, M.D. Neurologist Agoura, CA The magnets Dr. Lawrence uses are more sophisticated than regular kitchen magnets, but they work on the same theory. The primary way they work is by sending out a magnetic field which increases blood flow to the part by as much as 300 percent in= 20 minutes.=94 agnets throw off an electromagnetic field called gauss which we all have in our bodies. The gauss from the magnet penetrates deep into body tissue to reduce pain. Magnet therapy is most commonly used to treat arthritis, migraine headaches, carpal tunnel syndrome, back pain and muscle spasms. =20 In China, magnets have been used for 2,000 years to relieve pain. But such treatment is still relatively new to western medicine -- most doctors are skeptical about their benefits. Before I heard about it, I=92d say it sounds quacky to me, a magnet doing something?=94 But, like any holistic approach to medicine, t= hose=20 who see positive results are believers that it works. Today, magnets are considered a standard part of medical practice in most societies, except in America. http://WLBT.teclink.net/health/health.html ***************************************************************** Deep brain stimulation is a surgical method described in the following=20 abstract (orig. post by Ronald F. Vetter on Fri, 2 Feb 1996): Acta Neurochirurgica , Vol. 137 , No. 1-2 , 1995 Chronic Anterior Pallidal Stimulation for Parkinson`s Disease R. P. Iacono, R. R. Lonser, G. Maeda, S. Kuniyoshi, D. Warner, G. Mandybu= r, and Sh. Yamada -------------------------------------------------------------------------= --- Abstract We present the case of a 51-year-old female who had a four-year history o= f Parkinson`s disease with severe "on-off" and disabling progression of symptoms on chronic levodopa therapy. After obtaining FDA approval, we implanted a Medtronic deep brain stimulation lead stereotactically into the right anterior pallidum contralateral to her most symptomatologic side. Intra-operative stimulati= on trials at 100 Hz caused reproducible reversal of akinetic symptoms and simultaneous microelectrode recording of the posteroventral pallidum revealed decreased neural activity during anterior pallidal stimulation. The patient was evaluated pre-operatively and postoperatively using the Hoehn and Yahr Staging Scale, the Unified Parkinson`s Disease Rating Scal= e (UPDRS), videotape, and a computerized data glove. Six months after implantation, the total UPDRS score was decreased from 68 to 8 and Hoehn = and Yahr Staging improved from 3.0 to 1.5 during periods of chronic high frequency stimulation. Dramatic improvements in tremor, dystonia, bradykinesia, and akinesia were noted within seconds of stimulator activation and were also objectively measured using a computerized data glove. This case reveals the potential for therapeutic pallidal stimulati= on for Parkinson`s akinetic symptomatology. -------------------------------------------------------------------------= --- Regards, Margaret Tuchman