Deep brain stimulation therapy for Parkinson's disease, where a pacemaker device is implanted in part of the brain, showed more promise than medication in a recent study, but there were serious side effects.
The study, which appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded that patients treated with deep brain stimulation showed more improvements in movement and quality of life after six months compared with patients treated with medication.
But the study also found that these patients were at greater risk of developing serious side effects like depression, falls, heart problems and infections. One patient taking part in the study suffered a hemorrhage and died, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Deep brain stimulation, or bilateral deep brain stimulation, works by implanting leads into the subthalamic nucleus or the globus pallidus areas of the brain. Patients receiving the treatment in the study had an average increase of about five hours of normal movement, said lead researcher Frances Weaver of the Center for Management of Chronic Complex Care.
The part of the brain the device is implanted in contains dopamine-producing nerve cells that degenerate in Parkinson's patients. This causes the tell-tale symptoms of the disease, like tremors, stiffness, loss of coordination and slowed movement.
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