Just received my copy of the _Harvard Health Letter_ via snail mail (Vol 21 #11, Sept 1996) with an article on "Pallidotomy the Second Time Around"(pp 4-6). It offers no new information to those of us who have been long time members of this List. The article does, however, emphasize that pallidotomy has been hyped in the media ("Prime Time Live," "60 Minutes," "Wall Street Journal," and etc) as a surgical cure for Parkinson's disease, but it is not a cure. Parkinson's specialists bemoan the fact that these glowing accounts of the operation have raised expectations that "can't always be met." "An air of a visit to Lourdes surrounds it, and there are waiting lists at institutions where the operation is performed." "People see this on television and think 'Oh, great! I can have this operation and be cured of my Parkinson's disease.' Even though it is NOT a cure, more and more hospitals are hiring surgeons and touting this procedure for which they charge some $20 to $40 thousand US dollars. Let me excerpt a few passages from this _Harvard Health Letter_. Of the some million Americans suffering Parkinsons only 5-10% are considered good candidates for a pallidotomy. "These are people who have lived with Parkinson's for many years and have developed significant fluctuations in movement as a result of long-term treatment with the drug Sinemet. Sometimes after they take a pill they may have uncontrollable flinging about of arms or legs (dyskinesia); other times the drug seems to have no effect, and they move with frustrating slowness if at all (bradykinesia)." Dr. Tarsy of Deaconess and Beth Israel, a Parkinson's specialist, is quoted as saying: "Ironically, pallidotomy has turned out to be especially good at reducing or eliminating the side effects of Sinemet, the very drug that made surgical treatments for Parkinson's disease obsolete more than 25 years ago. In some cases, of course, that can be a major victory." "At best pallidotomy relieves symptoms mainly on one side of the body, because operating on both sides of the brain is very risky. It is not helpful for people ho never responded well to Sinemet in the first place and is generally not recommended for those who have tremor as their main symptom, who aare quite old and have very advanced disease, or who exhibit signs of dementia." More from this article later. (Wish I had a scanner!) -------------------- Sid Roberts 66/dx2 [log in to unmask] Youngstown, Ohio