SURGEONS IN Dublin yesterday spoke of the success of pioneering brain surgery carried out here for the first time in August, and called for funding to support treatment and follow-up care.
Deep brain stimulation, which involves implanting a medical device similar to a pacemaker that sends mild electrical pulses to the brain, was performed at the Mater Private Hospital, Dublin, on three patients in collaboration with the Dublin Neurological Institute established by Prof Tim Lynch.
The medical device blocks the signals that cause the tremors associated with Parkinson’s disease and a condition known as Essential Tremor, so that the symptoms disappear.
It can also be used for dystonia – a difficult condition to treat – which affected the writer Christy Brown. It does not cure the underlying condition, but effectively controls symptoms that make day-to-day tasks difficult and which are often the cause of social embarrassment for patients. Speaking at an event in the Dublin Neurological Institute attended by the three male patients yesterday, Prof Lynch said: “The underlying condition of Parkinson’s, which is a neuro-degenerative condition, for a number of complex reasons continues in the background unfortunately.”
There are about 7,000 people with Parkinson’s in Ireland and a number of patients have had treatment abroad under the National Treatment Purchase Fund.
The deep brain surgery costs an estimated €40,000.
“What would be preferable in Ireland is if we could get a service that was well-funded, full-throttle and that the funds that have been used to pay for it abroad could be used in an Irish setting, that the patients could have it more easily accessible,” Prof Lynch said.
“Proposals have been made to the Health Service Executive, the Department of Health and the Minister that we feel this is an important service that we should be able to do in Ireland, that we should get the expertise here and that patients can be subsequently followed up here and that perhaps the overseas treatment fund could be somehow redirected to fund that.”