Stereotactic Ablation Procedures for Parkinson’s Disease: A Multi-Centric Egyptian Experience

Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases in Egypt and the world. 1 Poletti M, Emre M, Bonuccelli U. Mild cognitive impairment and cognitive reserve in Parkinson's disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2011;17:579-586. Google Scholar DBS is considered the surgical option of choice for patients indicated for surgical management. 2 Molinuevo JL, Valldeoriola F, Tolosa E, et al. Levodopa withdrawal after bilateral subthalamic nucleus stimulation in advanced Parkinson disease. Arch Neurol. 2000;57:983-988. Google Scholar However, it's expensive especially when there's no financial support. Both thalamotomy & pallidotomy were extensively used before introduction of DBS and were revisited again due to financial crises. 3 Winn HR. Youmans & Winn Neurological Surgery. 7th ed. Vol. 1. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2017. Google Scholar