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Dear Jeff and Joan, Welcome to the world of the bionic brain. I am truly thrilled for Joan, she will have a whole new life. I am praying her surgery turns out at least as well as mine has. >Last Tuesday my wife had surgery...Deep Brain Stimulation of the >subthalamic nucleus. It involves inserting a wire lead deep into the >brain near the area where pallidotomies are performed. There are >electrodes on the end of the wire lead which connect to a stimulator >implanted (like a pacemaker) under the skin near the collarbone. Unlike a >pallidotomy, there is no permanent damage to the brain. Instead, >stimulation gets the brain back in balance. The surgery is technically >still experimental, but it is being done at a number of locations >worldwide (several in the US) and some insurance companies are paying for >it. > >Everything went very well. They let the brain heal for one month before >they activate the stimulator, so we will know more then. > >DBS may be much safer than a pallidotomy and help a wider range of >symptoms. There is a lot of info on the NYU website: > >http://mcns10.med.nyu.edu/CMD/CMDmain.html > > >Let me know if you want more information. > >Jeff jjjane http://www.parkinsonalliance.net/medical/palross/palross.htm