Spinal cord device helps Parkinson’s sufferers
A spinal cord stimulator has helped rodents with Parkinson’s disease move more easily, offering the hope of a less-invasive way of treating the disease in humans, say American researchers.
“We see an almost immediate and dramatic change in the animal’s ability to function when the device stimulates the spinal cord,” says Dr Miguel Nicolelis of Duke University in North Carolina, whose study appears in the journal Science.
If it works in humans, says Dr Nicolelis, the device could be used to treat the disease early on, reaching far more patients than current stimulators, which are implanted deep in the brain, and can benefit only about one third of Parkinson’s patients.
“It would be easier and safer to install a stimulator in the spinal cord than in the brain,” he said.
Both types of devices use pulses of electricity to control the tremors and stiffness caused by Parkinson’s.
“This technique is much easier, cheaper and can be done in conjunction with a much smaller dose of medication,” says Dr Nicolelis.
“It addresses Parkinson’s disease in a very different way”.
Dr Nicolelis says the treatment may help patients stay on the medication longer. His team plans to begin testing the device in primates this year, and hopes to begin human trials in 2010.
