Israel
Hospital Creates Brain Waves To Treat Palestinian Suffering
From Parkinson's
From Haifa,
Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to Turkey, Haiti and
Japan - the reach of Israeli medicine saves thousands of lives.
By
David Ratner and Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
Haifa,
Israel --- September 1, 2012 ... Through a joint humanitarian
effort of Rambam Medical Center of Haifa and the Palestinian Authority
(PA), a West Bank resident who was severely disabled by Parkinson's
disease has received Deep Brain Stimulation therapy.
Tarik Sadek
Abu Baker, 51, an accountant, developed an aggressive case of
early onset Parkinson's disease at age 39. Twelve years later,
he had stopped responding to Parkinsonian medications. On his
behalf, the Palestinian Authority turned to the Movement Disorders
Center at Rambam Hospital, directed by Senior Neurologist Dr.
Ilana Schlesinger.
Deep Brain
Stimulation therapy to correct movement disorders was pioneered
by French neurosurgeon Prof. Alim-Louis Benabid in 1987 and has
been available to the medical community since approximately 1999.
It has been available in Israel since 2003 and at Rambam Medical
Center since 2008. This break through surgery involves implanting
two electrode-equipped leads in the brain and two battery operated
neurostimulators in the chest.
The Movement
Disorders Center at Rambam has treated approximately 25 DBS patients
in Israel over the past four years and has quietly made a name
for itself in Israel and throughout the Middle East, with inquiries
reaching Dr. Schlesinger from as far as Iran.
Nurse Ilana
Erikh, who coordinates the Movement Disorders Center, remembers
initially evaluating the suitability of Abu Baker for the treatment
in Israel. The evaluation requires overnight hospitalization and
withdrawal of Parkinsonian medications in order to determine which
movements a Parkinson's patient can perform without the drugs.
"I had
never seen a patient that bad," she recalls. "He could
barely move or talk because of severe rigidity and tremors. It
hurt me to see so young a person entirely disabled and trembling,
who couldn't do anything without assistance. He obviously needed
extraordinary measures."
In June, Prof.
Menashe Zaaroor, Director of the Department of Neurosurgery, implanted
the leads and neurostimulators. Three weeks later, the patient
reported again to Dr. Schlesinger. She and her team members, Neurologist
Dr. Maria Nassar and Nurse Erikh, switched on the neurostimulators'
batteries and calibrated the voltage. Within an hour of stepping
into the clinic, the patient was a new man. He could walk and
move freely. He had no visible signs of his disease. Neither medications
nor DBS therapy can cure Parkinson's disease; they can only address
the symptoms but those symptoms or their absence make the
difference between severe disability and good quality of life.
"Abu
Baker went from being a very sick man to being a healthy man,"
Ms. Erikh says. "I'm happy for him because he has the emotional
strength to enjoy what he has received and use it for personal
good. I'm happy for all our patients who regain their independence
and can return to doing simple day-to-day activities."
The patients
wife, Ginan Salim Abu Baker: We have received warm consideration
at Rambam, and we were made very happy last week because my husband,
who has needed me to help him with personal hygiene, eating, and
preparing for sleep, has improved and doesnt need my assistance
anymore. We didnt expect such quick results.
See the story
on YouTube: http://youtu.be/TPJPQnzuFNw
From public
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