Deep brain stimulation provides relief to patients

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) works like a pacemaker for the brain. A device the size of a stopwatch is implanted just below the skin on the chest. It generates an electrical pulse to the brain through a wire that threads through the neck and into the skull via drill holes.

The theory behind DBS is that the electrical stimulation interferes with the abnormal signaling in the brain that characterizes Parkinson’s.

More than 150,000 patients have been treated with DBS, and it is not an experimental procedure, said Dr. Francisco Ponce, a neurosurgeon at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix.

One of Ponce’s patients is Bill Barta, 55, of Phoenix. While the surgery was “not to be taken lightly,” Barta said, he would do it again. “My quality of life is much better than it was before. It dawned on me that for the first time in 20 years, I was walking normally,” he said.

Barta and Ponce spoke in April at the 2018 Association of Health Care Journalists conference in Phoenix. Ponce played a video that showed Barta while his DBS device was “turned on” versus when it was not.

His tremors calmed noticeably when the electrical pulse was on.

Only about 10 to 15 percent of Parkinson’s patients qualify for the surgery, Ponce said. They must have had Parkinson’s for at least four years and had some success with medications, but still be bothered by symptoms as the medication wears off.

Only a small percentage get it, Ponce said. Many are never referred to a surgeon. Others may be afraid of going through a surgery. And while the surgery is considered “generally safe,” according to the Mayo Clinic, it does have potential risks, such as bleeding in the brain, stroke, infection, seizures, pain or swelling on the skull, breathing problems and heart problems.