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Gil Lieberman wrote:
>
> Hi,
> Our PD support group in Jerusalem had a salesman talk last night about
> magnetic stimulation using a German system called the Bemer 3000 that > they sell here in Israel for $2075. I have been following your CSR   > indexes since 3/98 and noticed several references there to this
> approach which is unfamiliar to me. What do you know about this
> approach?The salesman emphasized that this is a mainstream medical
> approach and not to be classified as untested alternative medicine.

Here are items from my CSR files. You will note that they report
mostly experimental, not clinical, trials. Judging from this meager
information, I should guess that any therapeutic device such as you
describe is premature:

Berardelli A et al: Brain 1996;119:71-77: (CSR MAY 96)
Comparison of PD and normal reaction to controlled magnetic stimuli.

Cunnington R et al; Brain 1996;119:815-822: (CSR SEP 96)
Transcranial magnetic stimulation slowed execution of intentional
movement in PD patients but not in controls, and only in early or
pre-movement stages but not in later stages of movement.

Ann Neur 1996;40:344-345: (CSR OCT 96)
Review of transcranial magnetic stimulation as a clinical and
research tool. Brief mention of therapeutic use to reduce
bradykinesia in PD.

Gerloff C et al; Brain 1997;120:1587-1602: (CSR NOV 97)
Transcranial magnetic stimulation of the supplementary motor area
of the frontomesial cortex interferes with preparation for planned
complex movement sequence.

Tsai C et al; J Neur N'surg Psych 1998;64:33-36: (CSR FEB 98)
Transcranial magnetic stimuli delivered over the motor cortex of
two patients with primary orthostatic tremor briefly suppressed
it, suggesting that a central oscillator involving the motor
cortex plays a crucial role in either generation or modulation
of such tremor.

Cheerss,
Joe
--
J. R. Bruman   (818) 789-3694
3527 Cody Road
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013