[Stereotactic treatment of movement disorders]

Stereotactic surgery for movement disorders is currently undergoing a re-evaluation. A new understanding of the pathophysiology makes the surgical lesion a logical step for the aleviation of both hyperkinetic symptoms such as tremor and hypokinetic symptoms like bradykinesia. Advances in imaging and electrophysiological control render these procedures more accurate and safer. Indications are medically refractory, Parkinsonean tremor, essential tremor, cerebellar tremor, bradykinesia and L-Dopa induced dyskinesis. The standard procedure is ablative surgery, i.e. thalamotomy for tremors and pallidotomy for bradykinesia, dystonia and L-Dopa induced dyskinesias. Deep brain stimulation is a novel alternative for selected patients which is currently evaluated. Neural transplantation of autologus, fetal or genetically manipulated cell suspensions into the striatum for the time being is experimental.