You likely will need this. So either you have to remember this or trust that your doctor knows about it. I don't trust a single stroke doctor in the world.
Parkinson’s Disease May Have Link to Stroke March 2017
This was already out there in Jan. 2018 so your doctor should already have a protocol for its use.
Administration of two proteins shown to counteract neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease Jan. 2018
New Treatment Shows Promise for Possibly Slowing, Stopping Parkinson’s Disease
An
experimental treatment that delivers therapy directly to the brain
offers hope that it may be possible to restore the cells damaged in
Parkinson’s disease, according to a study published in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease.
Alan L. Whone, PhD, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom, and colleagues investigated whether boosting the levels of a naturally-occurring growth factor, Glial Cell Line Derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF), can regenerate dying dopamine brain cells in patients with Parkinson’s and reverse their condition, something no existing treatment can do.
A total of 6 patients took part in the initial pilot study to assess the safety of the treatment approach. A further 35 individuals then participated in the 9-month double blind trial, in which half were randomised to receive monthly infusions of GDNF and the other half placebo infusions.
After the initial 9 months on GDNF or placebo, the open-label extension study took place, which explored the effects and safety of continued exposure to GDNF for another 40 weeks in the patients previously receiving GDNF (80 weeks in total) and the effects of 40 weeks of open-label GDNF in those who had previously received placebo for the first 40 weeks.
All 41 patients randomised and treated in the parent study (prior GDNF and placebo patients) were enrolled and completed the open label extension study.
A specially designed delivery system was implanted using robot-assisted neurosurgery. This delivery system allowed high flow rate infusions to be administered every 4 weeks and enabled Convection Enhanced Delivery (CED) of the study drug. Four tubes were carefully placed into each patient’s brain, which allowed GDNF to be infused directly to the affected areas with pinpoint accuracy via a skull-mounted transcutaneous port behind the ear. After implantation and over the following several years the trial team administered, more than 1,000 brain infusions, once every 4 weeks over 18 months to study participants.
After 9 months, there was no change in the positron emission tomography (PET) scans of those who received placebo, whereas the group who received GDNF showed an improvement of 100% in a key area of the brain affected in the condition, offering hope that the treatment was starting to reawaken and restore damaged brain cells.
“The spatial and relative magnitude of the improvement in the brain scans is beyond anything seen previously in trials of surgically delivered growth-factor treatments for Parkinson’s,” said Dr. Whone. “This represents some of the most compelling evidence yet that we may have a means to possibly reawaken and restore the dopamine brain cells that are gradually destroyed in Parkinson’s.”
By 18 months, when all participants had received GDNF, both groups showed moderate to large improvements in symptoms compared with before the start of the study, and that GDNF was safe when administered over this length of time. However, no significant differences between the groups in the primary and secondary clinical endpoints were seen.
The question of whether clinical benefits lag behind biological changes seen in PET scans during disease reversal or need a longer period of repeated exposure to the drug to develop cannot be answered definitively on the basis of the extension study results.
Further testing of GDNF in a larger-scale study and including the use of higher doses are required to definitively determine whether GDNF has a future role as a neurorestorative treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
“It’s essential to continue research exploring this treatment further -- GDNF continues to hold potential to improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s,” said Dr. Whone.
Reference: http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/JPD-191576
SOURCE: IOS Press
Alan L. Whone, PhD, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom, and colleagues investigated whether boosting the levels of a naturally-occurring growth factor, Glial Cell Line Derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF), can regenerate dying dopamine brain cells in patients with Parkinson’s and reverse their condition, something no existing treatment can do.
A total of 6 patients took part in the initial pilot study to assess the safety of the treatment approach. A further 35 individuals then participated in the 9-month double blind trial, in which half were randomised to receive monthly infusions of GDNF and the other half placebo infusions.
After the initial 9 months on GDNF or placebo, the open-label extension study took place, which explored the effects and safety of continued exposure to GDNF for another 40 weeks in the patients previously receiving GDNF (80 weeks in total) and the effects of 40 weeks of open-label GDNF in those who had previously received placebo for the first 40 weeks.
All 41 patients randomised and treated in the parent study (prior GDNF and placebo patients) were enrolled and completed the open label extension study.
A specially designed delivery system was implanted using robot-assisted neurosurgery. This delivery system allowed high flow rate infusions to be administered every 4 weeks and enabled Convection Enhanced Delivery (CED) of the study drug. Four tubes were carefully placed into each patient’s brain, which allowed GDNF to be infused directly to the affected areas with pinpoint accuracy via a skull-mounted transcutaneous port behind the ear. After implantation and over the following several years the trial team administered, more than 1,000 brain infusions, once every 4 weeks over 18 months to study participants.
After 9 months, there was no change in the positron emission tomography (PET) scans of those who received placebo, whereas the group who received GDNF showed an improvement of 100% in a key area of the brain affected in the condition, offering hope that the treatment was starting to reawaken and restore damaged brain cells.
“The spatial and relative magnitude of the improvement in the brain scans is beyond anything seen previously in trials of surgically delivered growth-factor treatments for Parkinson’s,” said Dr. Whone. “This represents some of the most compelling evidence yet that we may have a means to possibly reawaken and restore the dopamine brain cells that are gradually destroyed in Parkinson’s.”
By 18 months, when all participants had received GDNF, both groups showed moderate to large improvements in symptoms compared with before the start of the study, and that GDNF was safe when administered over this length of time. However, no significant differences between the groups in the primary and secondary clinical endpoints were seen.
The question of whether clinical benefits lag behind biological changes seen in PET scans during disease reversal or need a longer period of repeated exposure to the drug to develop cannot be answered definitively on the basis of the extension study results.
Further testing of GDNF in a larger-scale study and including the use of higher doses are required to definitively determine whether GDNF has a future role as a neurorestorative treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
“It’s essential to continue research exploring this treatment further -- GDNF continues to hold potential to improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s,” said Dr. Whone.
Reference: http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/JPD-191576
SOURCE: IOS Press
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