Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical treatment that involves the implantation of a brain pacemaker that can send electrical impulses to specific parts of the brain. DBS is an accepted therapy for advanced Parkinson disease, but little is known about how it compares to medical treatment. According to a new study published in the January 7, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, DBS may be more effective than best medical therapy for advanced Parkinson patients.
Researchers from the Hines VA Hospital in Illinois and their colleagues studied 255 patients with advanced 
Parkinson disease for six months in order to compare outcomes of DBS versus best medical therapy. They found that patients treated with DBS experienced significant improvements in motor function and quality of life compared to those treated with medical therapy. However, they also found that DBS was associated with an approximately 4-fold increased risk of serious adverse events, most related to the surgical procedure. It was also noted that most of these events resolved during the 6-month follow-up period.
Although this study suggests that DBS is effective in reducing the movement-related symptoms of Parkinson disease, further research is needed to determine the best timing and the best candidates for DBS pacemaker implantation.
Alzheimer’s disease to grow
December 16, 2008
As the population of baby boomers grows, public health experts believe the number of people with Alzheimer‘s disease also will grow.
The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that the state had 17,000 Alzheimer’s cases in 2000. The organization projects that number to be 21,000 by 2025, an increase of 24 percent.
The disease, which most often strikes the elderly, is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States.
By 2050, the Alzheimer’s Association predicts about 14 million people in the nation will be living with the illness.
Alzheimer’s is a progressive brain disease that impairs memory and other cognitive functions.
Antipsychotic Drugs Increase Risk of Death Among Elderly
December 2, 2008
The FDA has ordered the makers of older, “conventional” antipsychotics to add a “black box warning” to the drugs labels about the risk of early death in elderly dementia patients who take them. This is the strongest warning that can be placed on a medication without pulling it from the market.
This marks the first time that the FDA has used its new authority to mandate stronger warning labels on drugs. Before 2007, the FDA only had the power to request changes to warning labels.
The FDA concluded that conventional antipsychotics pose the same risks to elderly dementia patients as the newer, so-called “atypical” antipsychotics.
“The warning for both classes of drugs will say that clinical studies indicate that antipsychotic drugs of both types are associated with an increased risk of death when used in elderly patients treated for dementia-related psychosis,” the agency said.
In 2005, atypical antipsychotics received a black box warning after studies found that they increased the risks of heart attacks and pneumonia among elderly dementia patients, and that patients who were given the drugs died sooner than those who were not. In one such study cited by the FDA, 50 percent of elderly dementia patients died after ten weeks of treatment with the drugs, compared with only a 2.6 percent death rate among those taking a placebo.
Antipsychotics were designed for the treatment of schizophrenia, and are not approved for the treatment of dementia. Nonetheless, doctors are allowed by law to prescribe according to their own judgment, and antipsychotics are often used to sedate elderly dementia patients who develop psychosis-like symptoms, such as aggression, agitation, hallucinations or delusions.
Many patient advocates have accused many nursing home staff of shortening patients’ lives by giving them drugs that are only designed to sedate, rather than treat them
