Parkinson's patients improved by surgery

Patients who underwent deep brain stimulation (DBS) during a trial showed improvement and were also able to take far fewer drugs afterwards, reducing potential long-term costs to the NHS.

Dr Kieran Breen, the charity's director of research and development, said: "If somebody is eligible for surgery they should be given surgery. For us that is the bottom line."

The largest trial of its kind, which included 366 patients who were considered eligible for surgery, monitored one group who underwent DBS surgery and one who were just given medication.

It found those who were fitted with a neurostimulator – a device similar to a heart pacemaker which stimulates some areas of the brain and blocks abnormal nerve signals – were more likely to have improved than those who were only given the most appropriate drugs available.

A year after surgery, participants' motor function had improved, their symptoms reduced and they needed around a third (34 per cent) less medication to control their symptoms than those who did not have the surgery.

The trial's findings are published today in medical journal The Lancet Neurology.

Dr Breen said further analysis was being carried out to look at how the 30,000 cost of the operation and follow-ups compared with the reduced costs of drugs. "The amount you save in medication actually pays for itself in two to three years," he estimated.

Parkinson's UK said brain surgery could be an effective treatment option for up to one in 20 people with Parkinson's, in particular those whose symptoms are no longer adequately controlled by medication.