ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 15, 1997 TAG: 9703170038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ROCKVILLE, MD.
With the Activa system, doctors drill through the skull and implant an electrode into the thalamus. It sends electrical waves which block tremors.
George Shafer's hands trembled so violently from Parkinson's disease that he couldn't button his shirt or feed himself - until a powerful device implanted deep in his brain cut off the shakes with electrical shocks.
Scientific advisers recommended unanimously Friday that the Food and Drug Administration approve the pacemaker-like brain implant to help Parkinson's patients and other tremor sufferers who get no relief from drugs.
``It is a wonderful miracle,'' said Shafer, 65, of Fort Myers, Fla., holding out nearly motionless hands. ``I even made a model airplane.''
At least 500,000 Americans have Parkinson's disease, a degenerative neurological disease where patients suffer uncontrollable shakes, rigid limbs and other worsening symptoms. About 2 million Americans have essential tremor, a little-understood hereditary disease that causes similar violent shaking but no other symptoms, said University of Kansas neurologist Dr. William Koller.
The drug L-Dopa helps some Parkinson's symptoms, although its effects wane over time. Only about 40 percent of essential tremor patients are helped with medicines.
The shaking is so debilitating - eventually destroying patients' ability to work, even feed themselves - that some undergo dangerous surgery to destroy a small part of the brain responsible for the trembling.
Medtronic Inc. says it has a far less risky solution: ``deep brain stimulation.'' With the Activa system, doctors drill through the skull and implant an electrode into the thalamus, a walnut-sized region deep in the brain.
A wire runs just under the scalp down to the collarbone, where a pacemaker-sized ``pulse generator'' is implanted. It sends electrical waves - custom set for each patient - to the electrode, which blocks tremors by emitting constant, tiny electrical shocks.
In studies of 120 patients here and in Europe, about half saw their shakes disappear, Koller said. Others had different ranges of improvement; only seven Parkinson's patients were worse a year later.
``I can eat soup for the first time in 14 years,'' said study participant Maurice Long, 72, of Hutchinson, Kan., who has essential tremor. ``I can go out in public and enjoy life.''
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB