Parkinson's Disease - Is Surgery Ever Used to Treat Parkinson's Disease?
Treating Parkinson's disease with surgery was once a common practice. But after the discovery of levodopa, surgery was restricted to only a few cases. One of the procedures used, called cryothalamotomy, requires the surgical insertion of a supercooled metal tip of a probe into the thalamus (a "relay station" deep in the brain) to destroy the brain area that produces tremors. This and related procedures are coming back into favor for patients who have severe tremor or have the disease only on one side of the body. Investigators have also revived interest in a surgical procedure called pallidotomy in which a portion of the brain called the globus pallidus is lesioned. Some studies indicate that pallidotomy may improve symptoms of tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia, possibly by interrupting the neural pathway between the globus pallidus and the striatum or thalamus. Further research on the value of surgically destroying these brain areas is currently being conducted.
