April 21, 1999
Laser Pointer May Help Parkinson's Patients- Study
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A simple laser pointer may help the 30 percent of
Parkinson's disease patients who
experience a sudden feeling of being ``stuck in wet cement'' and unable
to walk, doctors said Wednesday.
The red dot that pointers project somehow helps the brain overcome
whatever block it is that causes the patients'
movements to freeze in the first place, doctors said.
``This is a very practical, inexpensive device that patients can carry
with them. It seems to get them moving again,''
said Dr. Timothy Counihan, a neurologist at the University of Rochester
in New York.
Counihan told a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Toronto
a patient stumbled onto the idea.
Stan Clark of Old Forge, New York, said he suffered from the common but
frustrating freezing of the legs that no
amount of willpower can overcome.
Like other Parkinson's patients, he found that thinking about stepping
over a pattern on the floor or a crack in the
sidewalk could get him moving again.
He tried home-made remedies, including etching a line in his glasses and
shining a flashlight beam on the floor. Then
he tried the laser. ``I looked at the laser spot, and my feet just
seemed to go to it,'' he said.
Clark told his doctors, Counihan and Dr. Lin Zhang, about his discovery.
They gave laser pointers to six other
patients.
Three patients improved an average of 30 percent, while one patient
found her freezing condition became worse,
perhaps because she was concentrating so much on using the device,
Counihan said. Two other patients had no
freezing episodes during which to try the pointer.
Parkinson's, which affects up to 1 percent of all people over the age of
60, is caused by the destruction of brain
cells that produce dopamine, an important signaling chemical involved in
movement. Symptoms start with tremors,
but the disease grows progressively worse, eventually paralyzing and
killing its victims.
About 30 percent of Parkinson's patients suffer ``sudden transient
freezing'' that can leave them paralyzed for as
long as several minutes.
``For these patients, it's like their feet are stuck in wet cement, and
currently there's no way to treat it,'' Counihan
said.
They try home-made solutions, from tape on the floor to flipping their
canes around so they can use the curved top
as a guide to walk toward.
``Using such cues is a way of tricking your brain to tell your body,
'Step over there,''' Counihan said. ``A laser
pointer is an easy way to give yourself a visual cue.''
Counihan said a larger study is needed.
Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
<[log in to unmask]>
^^^
\ /
\ | / Today’s Research
\\ | // ...Tomorrow’s Cure
\ | /
\|/
```````
