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One of the things that strikes me about THE CURE is how often it is mentioned and how seldom, if ever it is defined. Just what constitutes a cure for PD? For that matter just what constitutes a cure. My dictionary defines cure as : 1. to get rid of an ailment. 2. to restore to health At first glance this seems straightforward enough - but is it. By either of those definitions we do not have a cure for PD if, however well controlled the symptoms are, they will come crashing back the moment we stop treatment. PD is only cured if after an action or sequence of actions the disease and its symptoms are eradicated without need for further intervention. It may well be argued that I am splitting hairs and that drugs which control the symptoms without harmful or debilitating side effects constitute a 'de facto' cure. I'm not sure how 'cured' we will feel paying out hundreds of dollars for medications year after year no matter how well we feel as a result of taking them. It will be only a matter of time before we start asking when they will find the 'cure' so that we can get some relief for our hip pocket nerve. So we can't consider PD cured until it has gone as well as its symptoms. This removes the newer DBS type surgical interventions from the list of possible cures. However refined they get - however good the results - they will no more cure PD than an artificial leg cures the amputation of a real leg. At best they may come to be a very good substitute for a cure - for those who can afford them, and live in countries with the technology and expertise to perform them. So it seems to me that before we can say that we are cured we need to have found a way to restore natural dopamine production in the brain. To achieve this a way must be found to successfully replace the missing cells of the substantia nigra or of successfully regrowing them. The only other cure I can see is finding what causes PD and stopping it before it starts. This last cure is not much use to those of us already afflicted. From my reading of the progress made in the fields of cell transplants and cell regrowth it will be some time yet before we see definitive results and even longer before those results translate into cured ex PWPs. I would love it to be otherwise but it isn't. But if improvements in medication and surgical interventions are not the cure they may be as good as it gets for many of us and have the potential to be very good indeed. That being the case I think it makes sense to encourage research and development of new medications and techniques - even those not directly concerned with curing PD. Dennis. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dennis Greene 49/dx 37/ onset 32 There's nothing wrong with me that a cure for PD won't fix! [log in to unmask] http://members.networx.net.au/~dennisg/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++