About This Treatment
Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological condition caused by the loss of dopamine-producing cells in the brain. Tremor, muscle rigidity, slowness of movement and impaired balance are its principal features. As the disease advances, medication often becomes less effective, or the dose required begins to produce side effects that are themselves disabling. This is the point at which deep brain stimulation becomes relevant. DBS does not halt the underlying disease, and no honest account of it will claim otherwise. What it does, in appropriately selected patients, is bring the motor symptoms back under control and reduce the medication burden. Prof. Dr. Akın Akakın has performed more than 1700 DBS procedures, which places him among the most experienced surgeons in this field in Turkey. Selection matters as much as surgery: before an operation is offered, every candidate is assessed by a board comprising neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry. Patients who are unlikely to benefit are told so.