Treatments

Electrotherapy

Electro-Impulses can help reduce Parkinson symptoms such as stiffness and moving disabilities by 70%. These can become especially severe at an advanced stage of Parkinson, as at this stage the Nucleus subthalamicus of the basal ganglia starts working overtime. By continuously stimulating this part with electric impulses the activity can be reduced and thereby symptoms minimized. Furthermore the L-Dopa effect is improved, enabling a decreasing of the dosage by 50-60%.

Electric impulses may also reduce tremors, if applied to according parts of the brain stem.

However, the electric impulses cannot be induced externally. An operation is necessary in which electrodes are placed through the skullcap on the brain stem. They have to stay there until the end of the Electrotherapy.

Re-growing nerve cells?

GDNF, which stands for glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor, is a natural growth agent needed by brain cells to produce dopamine. An operation is necessary to apply GDNF directly into the brain stem. Thereby Parkinson affected brain cells are motivated to resume their dopamine production and the general production of nerve cells is enhanced.

Stem cells

Another method to replace lost nerve cells is to plant stem cells into the Substantia Nigra, where they grow into dopamine producing nerve cells.

Currently, these stem cells are taken from aborted embryos, cord blood or by cloning the patient's own bone marrow cells, which have to undergo previous modification.

The downside of this method is the possibility of the stem cells clustering into tumors. Ways on how to control the development of the implanted stem cells are still subject to research.

Exercise

Daily exercise combined with keeping mentally fit helps to slow down the progressing of the disease. Advisable activities are physiotherapy, ergo therapy, mental exercises and learning languages.

L-Dopa-Therapy

L-Dopa-Therapy has been the most successful therapy in treating Parkinson Disease for decades. Especially the first 5-7 years of the therapy are the most fruitful. However, the upcoming years are marked by the impact the missing nerve cells in the Substantia Nigra have on other nerve cell areas in the basal ganglia.

The effect of the L-Dopa agent wears off and even tends to confuse the basal ganglia - causing the basal ganglia to either overreact or to react insufficiently. Methods to prevent the basal ganglia's irregularity are implanting pumps or plasters ensuring a regular intake of L-Dopa. Other side-effects such as hallucinations and amentia may even appear, referred to as an after-effect of L-Dopa.

Taking the effects of L-Dopa into consideration, the therapy is introduced at an advanced stage, starting off on a low-dosage. In order to begin the therapy as late as possible, patients under the age of 70 are even prescribed a Dopamine substitute before they begin the L-Dopa-Therapy.