On World Parkinson’s Day, Apollo Hospitals launched an advanced centre for movement disorders. It will offer medical and surgical treatment for patients affected by various movement disorders including Parkinson’s Disease.
The centre would offer Deep Brain Stimulation surgeries and other services to treat a wide spectrum of diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease, cerebral palsy, dystonia, essential tremor and intractable spasticity dyskinesia, a release said.
Paresh K. Doshi, group advisor, Functional Neurosurgery, Apollo Hospitals, said the prevalence rate of Parkinson’s rises with age. From 40 per lakh in the fifth decade, there was a 20-fold increase to over 1,000 per lakh in the eighth, he said. There were cases of young onset Parkinson’s affecting those below 40.
“Tremors, mainly on one side of the body, is the first manifestation of Parkinson’s disease. The initial management requires multidisciplinary care including physiotherapy, neurological support, psychiatric counselling and nutrition. Surgery could be considered when the symptoms cannot be adequately controlled by medical management,” he told reporters on Thursday.
He added that the centre would offer DBS in which electrodes are implanted in the brain. Another movement disorder that would be treated at the centre is dystonia, which is abnormal contractions of the body’s muscles, he said. He has also operated on patients with task specific dystonia — when an activity that is repeatedly done such as writing gets affected.
Dr. Doshi noted that patients with five years of movement disorders experiencing side effects of medications and need to improve the quality of life can be considered for surgery. The US FDA has approved for two indications — advanced Parkinson’s disease and early motor fluctuations. Shivakumar, group Chief Executive Officer, Apollo Hospitals group, spoke.