Surgical trends in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and their outcome

ABSTRACT

Parkinson's disease [PD] is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders featuring the cardinal symptoms of resting tremors, postural instability, rigidity, bradykinesia and akinesia treated with a range of medicinal agents. The traditional drug therapy usually involves levodopa, the most potent drug for controlling PD symptoms, along with catechol-O-methyl-transferase inhibitors [COMTI], dopamine agonists and nondopaminergic drugs. For the last few years the treatment includes surgical techniques specially deep-brain stimulation, subthalamotomy, pallidotomy, thalamotomy, etc. The lay literature and mass media descriptions of surgery for PD often give patients and their families the impression that today's surgical procedures offer miraculous results to all patients undergoing this treatment. However, it is an important fact that these new treatments are not necessarily better than the established conventional drug therapy and that the treatment options must be selected according to the need of individual patient