Surgery For Parkinson's Disease - Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

Brain Surgery for treating Parkinson's diease is called Deep Brain Stimulation, or DBS.

If your symptoms are well controlled with medications, no doctor in their right mind would recommend you to have surgery. But in a few patients, medications no longer is pushed into a very particular part of the produce adequate improvement. Either the improvement lasts for a very short time, or the medication produces such dramatic dyskinesias that giving an adequate dose is impossible. Approximately, 70% of such patients benefit  kept in the skin below the chest. No part from this surgery.

The improvement is very significant, but DBS does not make all symptoms of Parkinson’s disease magically disappear. It is very important to have realistic expectations from the surgery. The improvement seen after surgery is not the same for every patient. On an average, patients get 5 extra hours of good functioning during which time they can walk, talk, go around and – in general – have a better life. The 5 “good” hours may not seem like much. But when you consider the fact that these patients frequently don’t even have 4 hours of good functioning before the surgery, it represents a major improvement in their quality of life.

DBS SURGICAL PROCEDURE - how is this surgery done?

This is a brain surgery, but a relatively minor one. A metal frame is usually attached to the patient’s head. A very small hole (approximately 1 cm in diameter) is made in the head, and a thin (1 to 1.5 mm thick) wire is inserted through it. The wire brain called the “sub-thalamic nucleus”.

The same process is repeated on the other side and another small wire is inserted. These wires are then connected to a small battery (a square of approx. 3 inch) that is of this device can be seen from the outside, and any scars on the head are usually covered by hair in a few weeks.The device is usually turned on 4 weeks after the surgery. On an average, most batteries last about 5 years, and can be replaced when required. Consult an Expert & get answers to your questions!