A new treatment being trialled in Bristol for people suffering from Parkinson's disease has enabled a man to do the things he loves again, such as playing golf. A clinical trial involving people with Parkinson’s is currently taking place at North Bristol NHS Trust to assess a new version of a Deep Brain Stimulation system.
DBS is used in Parkinson’s to improve tremor and other movement symptoms, which medication can't sufficiently control. A new "Picostim" DBS battery is about one third of the size of conventional devices, meaning it is able to be implanted directly into the skull, rather than within a pocket under the skin of the chest.
The trial’s first patient Tony received his device in November 2020, and said: “I was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s nine years ago when I noticed a slight tremor in my right hand. The most difficult thing to accept is the decline in daily activities like tying-up shoelaces, taking three or four minutes instead of seconds.
