[Surgical treatment of Parkinson's disease]

Surgical treatment for Parkinson's disease began by blocking of the pyramidal system in early part of this era. In 1942, Meyers performed Ansotomy for the treatment of Parkinsonism without leaving hemiplegia, leading subsequent operating target to blocking of pallidofugal fiber. Then, the development of stereotaxy in 1947 caused an operative progress to Pallidotomy and further to Thalamotomy. Although the spread of levodopa therapy gradually brought about decline of surgical treatment, Thalamotomy became to be reexamined in view of not a little problems about and side effects of levodopa therapy. With the development of CT, MRI and the like, Thalamotomy via MRI-stereotaxy was developed, making operations safer and surer. Besides, transplantation of dopamine neurons into the striatum was tried as an essential treatment and is in clinical application via animal experiments. Fetal ventral mesencephalic tissue and adrenal medullary tissue are available therefore, but demerits are such that the former poses some ethical problem and the latter is poor and short-lived response. The transplantation of stellate ganglion into the striatum, which we have recently developed is safe and more effective than the adrenal medullary tissue. The respective one thirds of the cases did without levodopa following transplantation, needed half as much as the preoperative levodopa dose and needed the same as the latter. Although Horner's syndrome was noted in all cases following transplantation, no Parkinson syndrome became aggravated in any one of the cases.