Good news about deep brain stimulation for patients with Parkinson’s disease and dystonia

Excerpt

Over the last ten years deep brain stimulation (DBS) has become a successful tool for treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). In several trials it has been shown that DBS significantly improves motor symptoms and dyskinesias in advanced PD. However, patients with PD do not only suffer from motor symptoms but also symptoms, that arise from an involvement of the autonomic nervous system, such as orthostatic hypotension or urinary bladder dysfunction. The first two articles in this month’s Journal Club deal with the effects and the underlying mechanisms of DBS on the improvement of orthostatic regulation and urinary bladder function in patients with PD. Its effects on orthostatic dysregulation may be of special importance because it may thus also reduce the increased rate of sudden death in patients with PD. The third and final article gives the results of a randomised controlled study on pallidal deep brain stimulation in primary generalised or segmental dystonia: a state-of-the-art study that shows a promising effect of DBS in this often disabling disorder. …