Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) may sail through six to 10 years of medical management before the unpredictable tremors and rigidity start to impair their quality of life. At that point, many patients with PD are good candidates for deep brain stimulation, a neurosurgical approach that is successful in managing the symptoms of advanced PD in combination with medical therapies.
Charles Fiore, M.D., a neurologist at Culicchia Neurological Clinic can help people with PD decide when deep brain stimulation makes sense for them – and if it does, he works together with the patient to control PD symptoms after the surgery.
“Deep brain stimulation is a procedure where our neurosurgeons implant small electrode wires within areas of the brain to control movement disorder problems,” Fiore said.
“The time to think about putting the stimulator in is when patients are ceasing to have satisfactory improvement of their symptoms with medication alone, or even earlier when they want to discuss the possibility of having one put in further down the line,” explains Dr. Fiore.
Many of Dr. Fiore’s Parkinson’s patients benefit from LSVT, four week program, which teaches patients various physical and speech exercises to bolster their strength in these areas.
