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hi all At 09:16 1999/06/11 EDT, sharon wrote: >Hello Janet, >... "Surgical therapies for Parkinson's disease consisting of >various forms of lesion surgery as well as stimulation procedures >are reviewed."... >Being new at this, how do I get more information on this? >Thanks, Sharon for Bob good question, sharon! i just did a quick surf 'n' search starting with the links in the PIEnet web pages e.g. "hope through research" at ninds sounded promising but no - not current enough... i dug through google a bit... the parkinson's web site at harvard is under renovation... the surgery sites all promote surgery, period [natch]... i thought i would be able to find a good, current, basic overview of pd and its treatment possibilities and options but i'm danged if i can find one... anyone else? the really simple answer to your questions is: 1. as pd progresses, motor difficulties and fluctuations ["on"-"off"] can become less and less manageable with pharmaceuticals only. surgery can be an option but is usually a measure of last resort. [especially now, with so many new meds available and in the pipeline - in my humble opinion] 2. pallidotomy destroys the specific brain cells which are causing motor difficulties and fluctuations - it is irreversible surgery 3. deep brain stimulation [dbs] or sub-thalamic n-something [stn] are brain surgeries which involve implanting a device somewhat like a pace-maker for the heart - the minute levels of electric current to specific brain cells can correct motor difficulties and fluctuations with very precise adjustment - reversible surgery 4. listmembers who have shared their surgery experiences are automatically promoted to "hole-in-the-head-gang" status; their stories are available at the pienet/people section of my website i'm going to add your deceptively simple question to my pd for newbies list! janet janet paterson 52 now / 41 dx / 37 onset PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada a new voice http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Village/6263/ [log in to unmask]