Thalamotomy for Parkinson’s Disease.

Abstract

Parkinsonism is a symptom complex consisting of resting tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, and impaired postural reflexes. James Parkinson described this disease for the first time and named it as “Shaking Palsy”. This study, conducted in the department of Neurosurgery, Lahore General Hospital, Lahore, included 94 patients. Of these 94 patients, males were 77 (82 %) and females 17(18 %). Maximum number of patients, 35.4 %, were in the 5e”. decade of life. Over 60 % patients had unilateral symptoms. Unilateral thalamotomy was performed in 84 patients (89.4%) while 10 patients (10.6 %) had bilateral thalamotomy for bilateral disease. Excellent control of tremors was achieved in 82.9 % patients while it was 68.1 % in case of rigidity. Minor complications of thalamotomy included headache, vertigo, vomiting and fever while major complications included temporary hemipresis, aphasia, meningitis, pneumonia and death.