Search Results for: blog brain pacemaker for parkinsons disease

Pacemakers Used to Help Children with Stomach Condition

Last year, surgeons used a pacemaker to help a 16-year old gastroparesis patient live with the debilitating stomach condition. Gastroparesis is a condition in which the stomach contracts less often and less powerfully, causing food and liquids to stay in the stomach for a long time. Symptoms include vomiting, nausea, bloating, feeling of fullness, heartburn, reflux, changes in blood sugar levels, and lack of appetite. These symptoms leave children malnourished and underweight. In severe cases, it affects the ability to live a normal life and attend school or play sports. In such a surgery, the pacemaker is inserted into the … Continue reading →

Brain Pacemaker for Parkinson’s Disease

A sort of pacemaker for the brain is showing promising results in testing on people with Parkinson’s disease. More than two hundred people with advanced Parkinson’s disease participated in testing, held at university and Veterans Affairs hospitals across the country. Some were treated only with medication; others were randomly assigned the surgery to implant electrodes that would stimulate the brain. (This “brain pacemaker” is also known as deep brain stimulation.) After six months, the patients who had the brain pacemaker experienced a dramatic reduction in tremors, limb rigidity, and movement restriction. Many reported a reduction or termination of nerve burning/tingling … Continue reading →

Surgery For Parkinson’s Disease

There are several different types of surgery that have been used to treat Parkinson’s disease. Brain Lesioning: a procedure where a surgeon uses a heat probe to destroy a small area of brain tissue that is abnormally active in patients with Parkinson’s disease. This produces a permanent effect on the brain; only one side of the brain may undergo lesioning at a time. Thalamic Surgery: once used for treating Parkinson’s disease; now used only for patients with essential tremor. Pallidotomy: a procedure that improves tremor, rigidity, and some other movement problems. Only one side of the brain may undergo pallidotomy … Continue reading →