OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Local neurosurgeon explores how an implant for Parkinson's patients helps them with sleep. The trail is ongoing, for information down below.
- Restored sleep is an unintended side effect of DBS surgery.
- Video shows what a brain looks like when cells communicate.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Better sleep better health.
Our neighbors with Parkinson's spend many restless nights in bed but now a doctor, along with Nebraska medicine, is exploring how an implant could help them.
"My body just went Haywire," says Parkinson's patient Jennifer Deets.
Deets struggled like many patients do with muscle rigidness and tremors.
Prescription drugs didn't help so Deets turned to neurosurgeon Dr. Aviva Abosch.
"Parkinson disease, which is a Neuro degenerate disorder. It means that brain cells are degenerating and dying," she says.
Not only does that affect muscle control, it can disrupt sleep for Parkinson’s patients.
Doctor Abosch found a procedure called deep brain stimulation, D-B-S for short— that can bring relief.
Dr. Abosch says she had patients tell her that DBS helped restore their sleep, an unintended side effect.
"And then try to pick apart whether if we change the stimulation at night, we can further improve on sleep and give people back the restorative stages that you need to wake up and feel rested,” she says.
Dr. Abosch decided to explore the connection.
She recruited more patients of Parkinson’s and use another implant, almost like a pacemaker that sends unique stimulation to specific areas of a patient's brain.
Deets swears by the surgery.
"That was the best sleep ahead in 10 years," she says.
The study is still going on for Parkinson’s patients with a DBS implant. If you think you qualify send an email to Dulce Maroney Vega, PhD at dmaroni@unmc.edu.
