People with dystonia, may have a new treatment option: brain surgery.
Sure, it doesn’t sound fun, but according to Dennis Russel, having the procedure for his essential tremor was “a no brainer.”
Deep Brain Stimulation is like a pacemaker for the brain. Those who elect to have the procedure are awake throughout the surgery.
WHAT?!
Yep. Awake.
That way doctors can instruct various movements and see the results while they calibrate the device. There’s even an “on/off switch” of sorts. So, the brain stimulation only has to be used when it’s needed and doesn’t run all the time.
There’s speculation that in addition to dystonia, Deep Brain Stimulation could be used to treat:
- Parkinson’s disease,
- depression,
- and other neurological conditions.
