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At 20:12 7-7-99 -0500, you wrote: >Hi, >My name is Mercedes and I have been reading these posts for a couple of days. My husband, 46, has had PD for over ten years now. I have read until my head hurts and I can not find any real statistics on success/failure rate of pallidotomy surgery. The time has come to really seriously consider this.. meds don't often work, pain is unbearable...you know the routine...I can find tons of information about pallidotomy, but where are the cold hard facts? If anyone has a lead for me I would really appreciate it. Everything I have found is "marked improvement" etc. Certainly there have been some failures and certainly there have been some side effects. The five year studies should be complete and there must be some real info somewhere. > Mercedes, I do understand your frustration about the lack of a plain answer to your question: "pallidotomy yes or no", but I think the reason you can't find it is simply that it doesn't exist. Of course much research is done, but till now there is no agreement among the researchers. The outcomes of research depend a.o. on things like what are the grounds a patient is supposed to be indicated and what symptoms are exactly measured, with which method, to decide whether the surgery was a succes or not. Because neither the indications nor the measurements to assess results are standardised, the information is confusing enough to give you a headache. An example of confusing :on the Dutch list a neurologist, who works in Belgium and is specialised in DBS has warned the members against pallidotomy while it is in his view an outmoded treatment. But at the same time a member of this list, Kees Paap, who planned to have a DBS in a centre where next to DBS pallidotomies are employed, was advised a pallidotomy, which was implemented. I don't know much about DBS and I had myself a pallidotomy. So I guess I am prejudiced. Keep this in mind reading the next paragraph about what in my opinion is known about pallidotomy. Though complications occur, they are hardly ever very serious. The most serious complication that might happen is the damage of a blood-vessel, which might cause a serious damage in brain tissue. An accident like this however happens rarely. A speech disturbance, soft and slurring speech, is a less rare side-effect, sometimes it is temporarely, but in some cases it is permanent. Researchers who did test cognitive functioning before and after the surgery, found an impairment of perception of space, and in finding one's bearings. Theses side effects are much more frequently happening and are more often permanent when the surgery is done on both sides. That is why a patient with one sided parkinson makes a better chance to profit much from the surgery . But now the positive resuts. The symptom that is ameliorated most is leva-dopa induced dyskinesia, but also stiffness and freezing, not only if they are leva-dopa induced but also if they are primary Parkinson symptoms. These amelorations together might make a big difference. Now about the decision. It seems clear that it is a "last resort" kind of treatment, which is only considered when all possible meds have failed. I think you demand to much of yourself wanting to take a decision only founded on your own readings. To do so one needs more expertise to interpret the information. That's why I advise you to do as Kees Paap did, go to a place, if it is available near the place you live, were different surgeries are done and let them not omly advice you, but let them make it clear why they advice you as they do. Kind regards, Ida Kamphuis (55, 14+) -------------------------------------------------------------- Vriendelijke Groeten / Kind regards, Ida Kamphuis mailto: [log in to unmask]