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Brian..... I've had PD for about 22 years, was diagnosed 14 years ago, have been on Sinemet for 10 years, and had a unilateral pallidotomy 4 years ago (with outstanding results) <thankfully>. With today's available Parkinson's meds, the drugs are a "daily thing," and at this point, with the available drugs, that's "daily," as in "forever." (the lifetime of the patient) The surgery is a once or, depending, twice-in-a-lifetime event. Therefore, the monetary "investment" a person with Parkinson's has in their drugs rises exponentially over the years, while the "investment" in the surgery(s) is a "once or twice in a lifetime expense. Also, as far as I know, anyone having a pallidotomy still is required to take PD meds daily - tho often the dosage is reduced post-surgery. My pallidotomy cost $30,000. Goodness-only-knows how much my drugs have cost (so far!), because I've always been able to get the drugs via my HMO at $7 for a three month supply per prescription. Since I take 2 types of Sinemet (regular and CR) daily, plus one other drug, that'd be $21 every 3 months for PD meds. If II had to pay retail, I simply wouldn't be able to afford PD drugs - or any other meds! THAT stuff COSTS! Sooooo, Brian, in my opinion, to compare the costs (as well as the treatment-value) of PD drugs verses pallidotomy is like comparing apples to giraffes. It doesn't compute! Barb Mallut [log in to unmask] ---------- From: Parkinson's Information Exchange on behalf of Brian Skotko Sent: Sunday, February 08, 1998 3:24 PM To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN Subject: costs of pallidotomy Dear friends, I am an undergraduate a Duke University doing research on Parkinson's Disease, mainly comparing levodopa treatments with that of pallidotomy. I would be most interested in any data on the relative expense of these two treatments. While I realize that individual treatments may vary, is pallidotomy generally more cost effective then continued use of levodopa treatments? Or is the surgery, on the contrary, much more expensive in the long term? Thanks you so much for your help and concern. Sincerely yours, Brian Skotko ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BRIAN G. SKOTKO Duke University Home address: Box 92275 16987 Stag Thicket Ln. Durham, NC 27708 Strongsville, OH 44136 Phone: (919) 613-1427 Phone: (440) 238-2964 E-mail: [log in to unmask] E-mail: [log in to unmask] http://www.duke.edu/~bgs2/brian.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~