PARKINSONISM. EVALUATION AND TREATMENT OF MOVEMENT DISORDERS

Patients with movement disorders from parkinsonism were treated with thalamotomy performed by stereotactic surgical procedure. In order to determine with any degree of objectivity the results of these lesions, an accelerometer was used to record hand tremor and various mechanical tests were carried out that included self-care activities to evaluate impairment of function. On the basis of these tests, patients were selected for surgical operation, their condition before and after operation was evaluated, and a program for their rehabilitation was drafted.

CRYOTHALAMECTOMY FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE

In a review of 61 patients with Parkinson's disease who were treated by cryothalamectomy, the technique of freezing a surgical target as compared with destroying it by alcohol or thermal heat was found effective and to a degree safer than other techniques. One patient died of unexpected cerebral hemorrhage. Of patients considered excellent candidates for the operation, 80 per cent had excellent and good results, while those considered good candidates showed 85 per cent excellent and good results. The results are more dependent on the selection of the patient as a candidate and the diffuseness of the pathophysiological circuits involved than on the technical factors of the cryogenic procedure.

RESTRICTED ORBITAL UNDERCUTTING; A STUDY OF ITS EFFECTS ON 350 PATIENTS OVER THE TEN YEARS 1951-1960

“The great majority of physicians, including our own specialty, have written off frontal lobe surgery as a therapeutic weapon for any illness short of chronic major psychosis.”