Surgical
Treating PD with surgery was once a common practice. But after the discovery of levodopa, surgery was restricted to only a few cases. Studies in the past few decades have led to great improvements in surgical techniques, and surgery is again being used in people with advanced PD for whom drug therapy is no longer sufficient.
Less than 10% of PD sufferers qualify as suitable candidates for a surgical response. There are three different mechanisms of surgical response for PD: ablative surgery, (the irreversible burning or freezing of brain tissue) stimulation surgery or deep brain stimulation (DBS), and transplantation or restorative surgery.
Target areas for DBS or lesions include the thalamus, the globus pallidus (the lesion technique being called pallidotomy) or the subthalamic nucleus.
Read more about this topic: Treatment Of Parkinson's Disease
Famous quotes containing the word surgical:
“With all the surgical skill and the vital rays lavished on him he should talk like a—like a congressman at a filibuster.”
—Kenneth Langtry. Herbert L. Strock. Prof. Frankenstein (Whit Bissell)