Brain Implant OK Urged for Parkinson’s, Tremor Sufferers

Scientific advisors recommended unanimously Friday that the Food and Drug Administration approve a pacemaker-like brain implant that can help Parkinson’s disease patients and other tremor sufferers by reducing or even cutting off the shakes with electrical shocks.

“It is a wonderful miracle,” said George Shafer, 65, of Fort Myers, Fla., holding out nearly motionless hands. Shafer’s hands had trembled so violently from Parkinson’s that he couldn’t button his shirt or feed himself.

At least 500,000 Americans have Parkinson’s, a degenerative neurological disease that causes uncontrollable shakes, rigid limbs and other worsening symptoms. About 2 million Americans have essential tremor, a hereditary disease that causes similar violent shaking, said University of Kansas neurologist Dr. William Koller.

The drug L-Dopa helps some Parkinson’s symptoms, although its effects wane over time. Only about 40% of essential tremor patients are helped with medicines.

With the implant approach, Medtronic Inc.’s Activa system, doctors drill through the skull and place an electrode in the thalamus, a walnut-sized region deep in the brain.

A wire runs just under the scalp down to the collarbone, where a pacemaker-sized “pulse generator” is implanted. It sends electrical waves, custom set for each patient, to the electrode, which blocks tremors by emitting constant, tiny electrical shocks.

The FDA is not bound by its panel’s advice but usually follows it. The implant, including surgery, costs about $25,000.