I'm no scientist, but this is what I understand about the study published in "The New England Journal of Medicine" on August 31, 2006 about 78 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) who had Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) and drug therapy and 78 patients with PD with drug therapy only:
78 PD patients with DBS and Drug Therapy: 10 severe adverse events which included: 3 cases of death: from surgery, from suicide, from pneumonia 1 case of worsening of mobility 1 case of infection at the stimulator insertion site 1 case of erroneous stimulator shutoff 1 case of vertebral fracture from a fall 3 other severe adverse effects
78 PD patients with Drug Therapy Alone: 3 severe adverse events which included: 1 case of death: from traffic accident when driving in a psychotic episode 1 case of worsening mobility 1 case of hip fracture from a fall
For PD patients that had both DBS and drug therapy, their "immobile time" decreased from 6.2 hours to 2 hours per day.
Patients were tested at baseline and 6 months later.
21 of the 36 authors of the study listed financial ties to Medtronic, whose Activa brand of DBS therapy was tested in the study.
Again, DBS is not a black and white issue, but one that includes many shades of gray.
I'm no scientist, but this is what I understand about the study published in "The New England Journal of Medicine" on August 31, 2006 about 78 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) who had Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) and drug therapy and 78 patients with PD with drug therapy only:
78 PD patients with DBS and Drug Therapy:
10 severe adverse events which included:
3 cases of death: from surgery, from suicide, from pneumonia
1 case of worsening of mobility
1 case of infection at the stimulator insertion site
1 case of erroneous stimulator shutoff
1 case of vertebral fracture from a fall
3 other severe adverse effects
78 PD patients with Drug Therapy Alone:
3 severe adverse events which included:
1 case of death: from traffic accident when driving in a psychotic episode
1 case of worsening mobility
1 case of hip fracture from a fall
For PD patients that had both DBS and drug therapy, their "immobile time" decreased from 6.2 hours to 2 hours per day.
Patients were tested at baseline and 6 months later.
21 of the 36 authors of the study listed financial ties to Medtronic, whose Activa brand of DBS therapy was tested in the study.
Again, DBS is not a black and white issue, but one that includes many shades of gray.