People with Parkinson's disease often feel like prisoners in their own bodies -- powerless to control the twitching, jerking and shaking that are common to the disease.
Many of these telltale symptoms are actually caused by drugs used to treat the condition. But a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) indicates that a long-established therapy called deep brain stimulation -- which uses a device made by Fridley-based Medtronic Inc. -- works just as well as drugs in improving Parkinson's patients' quality of life.
The clinical trial, which was sponsored by Medtronic, is the largest of its kind to study the therapy and may change the way doctors treat Parkinson's, which afflicts some 1.5 million Americans.
"This study adds an extra layer of rigor, and more scientific evidence about this therapy," said Dr. William Marks Jr., an associate professor of neurology at the University of California-San Francisco, and a principal investigator in the study.
One of the challenges facing deep brain stimulation is that no randomized, controlled studies have been conducted so far comparing it head-to-head against drug therapy.
The results of the 255-patient clinical trial are unlikely to surprise specialists who commonly treat Parkinson's patients. But publication of the study in the prestigious medical journal could spread the word to primary care doctors, and to patients themselves, said Dr. Frances Weaver, one of the primary investigators in the study.
"Now I think patients will at least consider [deep brain stimulation]," said Weaver, of Northwestern University's Department of Neurology. "Whether they actually qualify and do it is another question."
The JAMA publication will cause "a buzz of renewed interest and favorable feelings about this surgery," said Dr. Martha Nance, a neurologist and director of the Struthers Parkinson's Center in Golden Valley, who was not affiliated with the Medtronic study. "There's been a sense that this is a last-ditch procedure, a treatment for advanced Parkinson's when you've run out of options."