Current surgical treatment of Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

There has been a renaissance in the surgical management of Parkinson’s disease. This has been due to long-term effects of levodopa and a better understanding of the basal ganglia and its circuitry. Ablative surgery and neurostimulation are the only realistic surgical options at present. Although surgical treatments, such as ablation and stimulation are effective, they are not useful for stopping the progression or restoring the system. Neural transplantation helps restore the system by using a number of techniques. Targets mostly used are in the thalamus, globus pallidus and subthalamic nucleus. A number of factors must be considered including patient’s age, disability and his wishes. Globus pallidus stimulation might be preferable for patients who suffer from dyskinesia as a major source of disability. Pallidotomy might be appropriate in cases where frequent stimulator adjustments are impractical. Subthalamic nucleus stimulation is more suitable for patients with significant off periods and in younger patients in whom it may be desirable to maintain intact circuitry. Fetal neural transplantation, stem cell transplantation, xenotransplantation, adrenal medullary transplantation and transplantation of genetically engineered cells are at various stages of development and research. Ethical issues surrounding these process are likely to arouse strong emotions and have to be carefully considered.