Deep mind stimulation, steady levodopa infusion amongst matters
4 fellowship-trained motion problems neurologists from UT Well being San Antonio will give talks Friday (Jan. 27) on the Parkinson’s Basis Tri-State Symposium. These physicians will focus on the latest developments in analysis and scientific trials of Parkinson’s illness and different problems. The symposium, free and open to the general public, is obtainable in individual and on-line. Register right here.
The UT Well being San Antonio audio system are from the Division of Neurology within the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Lengthy Faculty of Drugs and see sufferers of the UT Well being Physicians neurology follow. They’re:
- Okeanis Vaou, MD, affiliate professor and motion problems program director; specialties: deep mind stimulation and sleep drugs
- Juan Ramirez Castaneda, MD, affiliate professor; specialties embrace deep mind stimulation
- Sarah Horn, MD, assistant professor who occupies the Maj. Gen. Ret. Joe and Patty Robles Professorship in Parkinson’s illness; specialties: remedy of Parkinson’s dementia, remedy of hallucinations, deep mind stimulation
- Pablo Coss, MD, assistant professor; specialties: Huntington’s illness (he leads the division’s Huntington’s Illness Middle of Excellence), deep mind stimulation
Vaou, fellowship-trained in motion problems and in sleep drugs, joined UT Well being San Antonio in September 2022. She mentioned what the motion problems program presents South and Central Texas sufferers.
“UT Well being San Antonio is the one educational motion problems heart within the space,” Vaou mentioned. “We deal with Parkinson’s illness, important tremor, dystonias, Huntington’s illness and different problems. Therapies embrace botulinum toxin (Botox) injections, medicines and deep mind simulation, which is surgical remedy for Parkinson’s, dystonias and important tremor.”
The motion problems program is quickly to launch human scientific analysis research of:
- Drugs to regulate tremor.
- Drugs to delay illness development.
- Drugs to forestall bone fractures from falls.
- Drugs utilized in hallucinations and Parkinson’s dementia.
“Later this yr we could have these scientific trials began and enrolling,” Vaou mentioned. To see a doctor of the middle or inquire about scientific trials, name 210-450-9700.
The motion problems program incorporates a robust multidisciplinary staff of bodily therapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation drugs specialists, and neuropsychologists for analysis and counseling.
The middle additionally gives a motion problems fellowship to coach new motion dysfunction specialists popping out of their neurology residency packages. Horn is the fellowship director.
Deep mind stimulation
DBS was accepted for remedy of Parkinson’s illness in 2002. “Now we have super data in comparison with what we did again 10 years in the past,” Vaou mentioned.
The motion problems program collaborates with Alexander Papanastassiou, MD, affiliate professor of neurosurgery within the Lengthy Faculty of Drugs. After in depth preoperative planning to pinpoint websites of the mind the place DBS is required, surgical procedure is carried out at UT Well being San Antonio’s scientific associate, College Hospital. Papanastassiou implants DBS electrodes within the actual places within the mind.
Entry is gained via two dime-sized holes. The surgical procedure is minimally invasive to reinforce fast restoration with the least ache, blood loss and hospital time. Relying on the affected person’s hairline, the one exterior mark could also be somewhat bump on the pores and skin.
“DBS has all the time labored very nicely, and the final 5 years have supplied a number of leaps in know-how,” Vaou mentioned. “It’s form of just like the smartphones that carry on upgrading. We will steer the stimulation exactly to the place we would like it to go.”
This prevents stimulation of areas that will trigger negative effects.
“The opposite factor we’re enthusiastic about is the flexibility of recent DBS know-how to seize sensor readings within the mind 24/7/365,” Vaou mentioned.
“When the affected person is available in, we are able to analyze their recordings over days, weeks and months, and now we have an digital diary of their motion signs. With that, we perceive whether or not they’re well-controlled or not well-controlled and modify their setting, which permits for customized, individualized remedy.
Beforehand, DBS was programmed based mostly on the affected person’s reminiscence and narrative of signs. “However now now we have goal information,” Vaou mentioned.
Anticipating FDA approval of one other remedy possibility
Vaou and the opposite specialists are excited to quickly provide motion problems sufferers a brand new remedy various known as subcutaneous, steady infusion of levodopa. Levodopa is a frontline remedy used to deal with Parkinson’s illness and different problems.
“Outcomes of a multicenter scientific trial have come out and are actually good,” Vaou mentioned. “We await FDA (U.S. Meals and Drug Administration) approval later this yr. It is a pump implanted underneath the pores and skin that retains infusing levodopa whereas the affected person is doing different issues, not having to consider taking medicines.”
The motion problems program will add this remedy to its choices as soon as FDA grants approval, Vaou mentioned.
