Is this technique something new?
Ron Reiner (50/3)
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Chinese Doctors Fighting Parkinson's Disease (1)
April 22, 1998
Xinhua : BEIJING (April
21) XINHUA - More than 100 patients with
Parkinson's disease have had their suffering
alleviated by a surgical procedure in Xi'an, capital of
northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Doctors have applied microelectrode technology in
their operation, which can increase the precision of
locating pathological cells in the brain, said Gao
Guodong, director of the Neurosurgery Department
of Tangdu Hospital attached to the No. 4 Medical
College of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Gao told Xinhua today in a telephone interview that
since the first successful operation in October,
more than 110 patients have been operated on in
his hospital with an effective rate of 100 percent.
Parkinson's disease, which usually afflicts people
60 and older, is a nerve ailment characterized by
trembling in the hands, muscle rigidity and a
shuffling walk.
The hospital has established an International
Parkinson's Disease Treatment Research Center.
Twenty patients from the Republic of Korea,
Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong
region have written letters asking for treatment in
the center.
The center currently carries out two operations
every day, but many patients will have to wait until
2000 because of a shortage of beds.
Gao said the treatment expense in the hospital
averages 25,000 yuan (3, 000 U.S. dollars),
compared with 30,000 U.S. dollars in the United
States.
Gao, 44, explained that he first cuts a
centimeter-long hole in the patient's cranial bone,
then sends the microelectrode into the brain to
detect the pathological cells, and then kills those
cells and blocks the wrong nerve conduction.
A 73-year-old man living in Nanjing in east China
had been plagued by Parkinson's disease and
confined to bed for years. He couldn't turn over in
bed unassisted. But ofter the operation, he
immediately got out of bed and walked without help.
(more) 21/04/98 09:08 GMT
