30 docs attended CME on Parkinson’s diseases at IVY Hospital, Amritsar
Amritsar : As many as 30 doctors attended a CME on latest treatment options for Parkinson’s diseases at IVY Hospital, Amritsar today.
Speaking during CME, Dr Jaslovleen Sidhu an internationally trained Parkinson’s specialist neurologist said that Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neuro degenerative disease in the whole world. Its symptoms are often missed or misdiagnosed with old age and many elderly patients are left untreated.
She said that common symptoms include slowness in daily activities, stiffness in body, shaking or trembling of hands, legs, and jaw, difficulty in walking, walking with stooped posture or losing balance while walking.
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive condition and medical treatment doesn’t help in advanced cases, she asserted.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS ) surgery helps in reducing the dosage of medications and improves motor symptoms like tremors, slowness and stiffness, she opined.
She explained further that DBS is like a pacemaker surgery for the brain which can control the symptoms by changing the electrical signals of the electrodes placed in the brain. Patients who need DBS surgery have to be screened by a Parkinson’s specialist neurologist and have to undergo UPDRS on & off testing before they can be declared fit for surgery.
Also, since this is an awake surgery, Parkinson’s specialists have to monitor the patient during the whole surgery to confirm if the electrodes are put in the exact location in the brain, she maintained.
The patients need detailed evaluation of all such symptoms and treatment is planned according to their age, symptoms and tolerance. Since Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disease, the medications will not give good effect for long and brain surgery needs to be planned in such cases. DBS surgery is done for Parkinson’s disease patients when they develop fluctuations after a few years of medications, she asserted.
Among others, Dr Sushil Mahindru, Dr Anuj Ved Gupta, Dr Sarabjeet Singh, Dr Yanish Bhanot & Dr Ashok Khurana also attended the CME.
