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Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is beneficial in the earlier treatment of Parkinson's disease, according to a study published in the Feb. 14 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The treatment involves placing electrodes in specific parts of the brain. "So far, all studies have dealt with patients who had very severe disease," explained senior study author Dr. Gunther Deuschl, chairman of neurology at University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel, Germany.

"The present group . . . are well within the spectrum of disease severity which has been treated with medication only. The surprising result was that even at this stage, the patients had a much better outcome after two years than those who were treated with medication alone."

The study showed that patients with early motor complications had a 26 percent increase in quality of life scores if they had neurostimulation compared with a 1 percent worsening for those on standard medical therapy.

Standard treatment for Parkinson's disease, a nervous system disorder marked by tremors and other movement problems, is a drug called L-dopa (Levodopa), which replaces depleted reserves of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Unfortunately, long-term use of L-dopa can result in severe swings in motor function.

"In conclusion, we found that neurostimulation was superior to medical therapy alone at a relatively early stage of Parkinson's disease, before the appearance of severe disabling motor complications," Schuepbach and colleagues write. "Neurostimulation may be a therapeutic option for patients at an earlier stage than current recommendations suggest."

"The conclusions of this study are really exciting," says David Charles, the chief medical officer of the Vanderbilt Neuroscience Institute and director of the movement disorders clinic there. "Most likely it will be a transformative study in our understanding of when to apply deep-brain stimulation therapy in Parkinson's disease.";.