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Dr. Kim Mulvihill ReportingThere's promising new research on the road to discovering what causes Parkinson's disease, and eventually curing it. But what doctors are really urging patients to do is take advantage of a treatment that's already working to control tremors. Experts spoke about it today at the World Parkinson's Congress in Washington, D.C.
The world's top experts on Parkinson's are meeting in Washington this week to get the word out that, while a cure is still likely many years away, effective treatment for some is available right now.
Doctors say "deep brain stimulation", or DBS, has shown remarkable results controlling tremors in Parkinson's patients. A pacemaker-like device is surgically implanted, sending signals to the brain, periodically "shocking" it to keep the shaking under control.
Doctors believe DBS could benefit 10 to 15 percent of Parkinson's patients. Surprisingly, only a fraction have tried it even though many insurance companies will pay for the surgery.
Dr. Andres Lozano, Neuroscientist, University of Toronto: "When you demonstrate that the patient can benefit from it, in general, there have been no problems with insurance coverage."
The idea is to protect any remaining cells that produce Dopamine. A new pilot study by the National Institutes of Health has identified two possible candidates... an antibiotic - minocycline - and the dietary supplement creatine - a substance produced in muscle tissue.
Patients with very early Parkinson's who took one of these did not seem to decline as rapidly as those who took a placebo.
