WELCOME TO OUR PARKINSON'S PLACE!

I HAVE PARKINSON'S DISEASES AND THOUGHT IT WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE A PLACE WHERE THE CONTENTS OF UPDATED NEWS IS FOUND IN ONE PLACE. THAT IS WHY I BEGAN THIS BLOG.

I COPY NEWS ARTICLES PERTAINING TO RESEARCH, NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE, DEMENTIA, THE BRAIN, DEPRESSION AND PARKINSON'S WITH DYSTONIA. I ALSO POST ABOUT FUNDRAISING FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE AND EVENTS. I TRY TO BE UP-TO-DATE AS POSSIBLE.

I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR IT'S CONTENTS. I AM JUST A COPIER OF INFORMATION SEARCHED ON THE COMPUTER. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THE COPIES ARE JUST THAT, COPIES AND AT TIMES, I AM UNABLE TO ENLARGE THE WORDING OR KEEP IT UNIFORMED AS I WISH. IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND I AM A PERSON WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE. I HAVE NO MEDICAL EDUCATION,

I JUST WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU WHAT I READ ON THE INTERNET. IT IS UP TO YOU TO DECIDE WHETHER TO READ IT AND TALK IT OVER WITH YOUR DOCTOR. I AM JUST THE COPIER OF DOCUMENTS FROM THE COMPUTER. I DO NOT HAVE PROOF OF FACT OR FICTION OF THE ARTICLE. I ALSO TRY TO PLACE A LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH ARTICLE TO SHOW WHERE I RECEIVED THE INFORMATION SO THAT YOU MAY WANT TO VISIT THEIR SITE.

THIS IS FOR YOU TO READ AND TO ALWAYS KEEP AN OPEN MIND.

PLEASE DISCUSS THIS WITH YOUR DOCTOR, SHOULD YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, OR CONCERNS. NEVER DO ANYTHING WITHOUT TALKING TO YOUR DOCTOR FIRST..

I DO NOT MAKE ANY MONEY FROM THIS WEBSITE. I VOLUNTEER MY TIME TO HELP ALL OF US TO BE INFORMED.

I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY ADVERTISEMENT OR HEALING POWERS, HEALING FROM HERBS AND ETC. UNLESS IT HAS GONE THROUGH TRIALS AND APPROVED BY FDA. IT WILL GO INTO SPAM.

THIS IS A FREE SITE FOR ALL WITH NO ADVERTISEMENTS

THANK YOU FOR VISITING! TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

TRANSLATE

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

New Therapies: Hope for Those With Movement Disorders

November 23, 2016



If you hold your hands in front of your face and examine them closely, you can see them shake ever so slightly. That's normal. Everyone has some degree of this involuntary trembling, known as a tremor. But for some people, because of changes in the connections in the brain caused by aging, injury, stroke or other neurological disorders -- such as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease -- the tremor can become so severe as to leave the person unable to function.
As a neurologist specializing in tremors, I hear from patients about how disabling (and embarrassing) this shaking can be. These patients might not be able to hold a fork, use a spoon, write with a pen, type, cut with scissors, zip their pants, button their shirts, take a picture, drive a car or keep their heads still. If their tremor extends to the trunk and legs, they cannot even balance to walk. And not only can the tremor cripple a person's ability to perform daily tasks, it can also prevent sufferers from holding down a job. This past summer, however, there was some promising news for these patients. In July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new treatment for the most common type of tremor, a non-life-threatening movement disorder known as benign essential tremor.
Treating Essential Tremor
Several million Americans, most over the age of 40, have essential tremor, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. It typically affects the fingers, hands and arms, and the shaking occurs only when the patient is moving the affected body part. People with more advanced cases, such as Katharine Hepburn in her later years, also experience uncontrolled trembling in the head and voice.
There are long-standing treatments for essential tremor, but none are ideal. Doctors usually prescribe drugs: beta-blockers such as propranolol and anti-seizure medications like primidone. These medications often make people groggy, not everybody responds to them and the side effects of the medications can be as debilitating as the disease itself. Deep Brain Stimulation is a surgical option where electrodes are implanted deep in the brain into the thalamus, a structure that controls muscle movement and the tremor. The electrodes are connected to a pacemaker-like device implanted under the skin in the chest area; it contains a battery and generates the pulse. These electric pulses, delivered to the thalamus, block the tremor. DBS is effective, but it's also highly invasive (it is brain surgery, after all), and it comes with a risk of infection and requires surgical replacement of the battery every few years.
A Different Approach
The new FDA-approved treatment, a magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasonography device, requires no incision, no electrodes and no anesthesia. Doctors use MRI to locate a tiny section of the thalamus called the ventralis intermedius, a cluster of cells only a few millimeters thick that is the source of tremor. Then they deliver focused ultrasound -- sound waves -- to heat and destroy it.
By zapping the VIM with focused ultrasonography, research physicians have been able to reduce tremor by 47 percent, according to a study published in the August 25 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. That might not sound like enough, but a nearly 50 percent improvement can enable a person to eat a bowl of soup or sign his or her name. Moreover, the entire procedure takes only a couple of hours, and patients are awake throughout.
It is important to remember that this new treatment is a therapy, not a cure. It is also important to consider that every procedure has certain drawbacks and risks. Focused ultrasonography kills part of the brain, albeit a tiny one causing a problem; it alters part of the person's anatomy forever. Also, when the thalamus is altered, patients sometimes experience abnormal sensations in other parts of the body, especially in the face. It can also affect gait.
Possibilities for Parkinson's -- and More
So far, focused ultrasonography has been approved only for the treatment of essential tremor and is not widely available, but once clinical trials are completed, it may well be approved as a therapy for Parkinson's disease, too. Essential tremor is frequently mistaken for Parkinson's disease, but Parkinson's is very different. People with Parkinson's also experience the tremor, but only when they are at rest; tremor stops when they move their hands. The disease, which is caused when nerve cells in the brain that produce the chemical dopamine become damaged or die, also causes a stooped posture, slow movement and a shuffling gait (bradykinesia). While the new treatment could potentially impact tremor in people with Parkinson's, their additional symptoms would still need to be treated with drugs.
The potential benefit from a non-invasive therapy for a debilitating tremor doesn't have to end with essential tremor and Parkinson's. If and when this new procedure becomes more widely available, it could potentially be used to destroy tumors in the brain -- as well as in other areas of the body.
Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasonography isn't where patients should turn first, but it may be an important new option to discuss with your doctor for those who don't get relief from prescription drugs. Meanwhile, monitoring the exciting evolution in treatment options at the International Essential Tremor Foundation and Parkinson's Disease Foundation websites is a worthwhile activity for all those impacted by movement disorders.
Ejaz A. Shamim, MD, is a board-certified neurologist with Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group in the Washington, D.C., area. He serves on the American Academy of Neurology's Sports Neurology Section and has a clinical interest in concussions. He is fellowship-trained in movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, and serves as the local principal investigator for two national migraine studies. He has postdoctoral training in inflammatory muscle disease and is the local PI for a national study of chronic muscle weakness. Dr. Shamim, MAPMG's neurology chief for Washington and suburban Maryland, sees patients at Kaiser Permanente's Largo, Gaithersburg and Capitol Hill medical centers.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/therapies-hope-those-movement-disorders-110000996.html

No comments:

Post a Comment