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Forrest - Thanks for forwarding the articles. Im sorry you missed some of our earlier postings on the net which detailed my husband's pallidal stimulation surgeries at the University of Kansas. He had one side done in late '95 and the other in early '96. Just wanted to correct some misimpressions left by the article. In a message dated 97-04-02 23:28:44 EST, you write: > Zgonc was Minnesota's first pallidal simulation operation and, as far as >university neurosurgeons know, and only the third in the country. The >others were performed at the University of Kansas, one of two FDA approvbed >sites for tests of the procedure. My husband (Dick, 52/15) was actually the 3rd in the country to have the procedure. I believe KU has now done at least 15 pallidal stimulations. Last October we had a reunion at our house of four of the first five stimulator recipients. It was quite interesting and very helpful to all the patients. We have also spoken to several others on the phone, both before and after surgery. I'd like to credit Gary Shikles of Lawrence, Kansas, the first stimulator recipient, with the idea of using a small radio to tell (by the static produced) whether his devices are on or off. We should also credit Diane Smith, the nurse clinician who programs the stimulators at KU, with passing the information on to Medtronics. If you missed previous postings about this subject, you also won't have read that Dick was tested last summer in the PET scan unit of North Shore University Hospital on Long Island. There is a group of well-known researchers, including some who flew over from Italy, who are interested in the electrical activity in the brains of the stimulator recipients, with the devices both on and off. They were astounded and excited about the results they saw, and were able to prove and quantify how much better Dick's mental function was with the stimulator on. Sorry for such a long response, but thought if you were interested in the subject, you might like this additional information. We are always happy to correspond individually with people who are interested in this procedure. Feel free to contact us at: [log in to unmask] Margie Swindler (cg for Dick, 52/15)