Parkinson’s disease patients in the UAE can now benefit from deep brain stimulation, an advanced treatment that can significantly reduce symptoms of the disease.
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi is now evaluating Parkinson’s disease patients in the UAE to determine those who could benefit from deep brain stimulation, an advanced surgical procedure that uses electrodes implanted into specific parts of the brain to reduce tremors, stiffness, slowness and other symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
“Motor problems caused by Parkinson’s disease can hugely affect a person’s quality of life. Once we begin delivering pulses to the part of the brain responsible for causing them, the improvements can be quick. Patients can regain significant control of their movement, allowing them to get back to activities they never thought they’d be able to do again,” said Dr. Florian Roser, Chair of the Neurological Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.
Globally, an estimated seven to 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson’s disease and this is expected to rise significantly in the coming years. Deep brain stimulation uses electrodes implanted into specific parts of the brain to reduce tremors by blocking the rogue signals that cause them. The complex surgery can significantly improve patients’ quality of life.
Following surgery, deep brain stimulation requires programming by a multidisciplinary team of movement disorder specialists to maintain and fine tune the implant, to get the best individual results for each patient.
In order to introduce the complex surgery to the UAE, physicians at the hospital worked closely with their colleagues at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, which has more than 20 years of experience in the field, performing more than 150 deep brain stimulation surgeries per year. 
