Sybil Guthrie is now able to enjoy
simple privileges of life that most of us take for granted -- things such
as walking, eating unassisted, planting flowers, lifting a grandchild. Before
her recent surgery at Emory, Mrs. Guthrie, who has Parkinson's disease,
was wheelchair-bound and virtually immobile. She underwent an investigative
procedure called deep-brain stimulation, which helps control the inappropriate
firing of nerve cells that causes tremors, rigidity, and other symptioms
of Parkinson's. After painstaking detective work to find just the right
area in her brain, doctors implanted an electrode that delivers electrical
stimulation of the regions causing symptoms. Long a leader in new treatments
for this disease, Emory recently received NIH designation as one of three
Parkinson's Disease Research Centers of Excellence in the nation. |
