He has long suffered from Parkinson's disease
A screen grab from the video featuring Greg Grindley, who will be undergoing brain surgery on live TV. (Picture Courtesy: YouTube)
Washington: A 49-year-old man who has long suffered from Parkinson's disease has become the first person in the US to undergo a brain surgery televised live. Doctors at the University Hospitals Case Medical Centre in Ohio performed the operation known as deep brain stimulation during a special broadcast on the National Geographic Channel.
The patient, Greg Grindley, had surgery to implant electrodes that would deliver deep brain stimulation to parts of his brain that have been increasingly faulty since his diagnosis with Parkinson's a decade ago. During deep brain stimulation, doctors drill a small hole in the skull to thread electrodes into the brain. The procedure went exactly as planned. Grindley was awake during the surgery, so he could help guide the placement of the electrodes.
The disease has left Grindley with tremors and rigidity in both hands and his face, as well as balance and speech issues, 'National Geographic' reported.
He had to take medication every two hours to regain his mobility, but the side effects left him quivering uncontrollably. Jonathan Miller, who led Grindley's surgery on Sunday said he hoped the procedure would get Grindley off of a medical "roller coaster."
At one point during the surgery, Grindley's tremor disappeared completely. The procedure was worth televising. It alleviated Grindley's suffering without taking the medical team's attention away from him, said Michael Okun, national medical director for the National Parkinson's Foundation.
( Source : PTI )
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