Older patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) who are treated with deep brain stimulation (DBS) are believed to have a similar 90-day complication risk as younger patients, suggesting age should not be a primary factor in which patients are excluded from the treatments.
Patients suffering advanced PD who have involuntary movements could be effectively treated with DBS; the procedure could help reduce the patients' reduce their motor skills and improve their quality of life, The JAMA Network Journals reported.
Recent studies have shown medical therapy coupled with DBS is more effective than medical therapy alone for PD patients. Although no specific age cutoff has been set for the therapy, most clinical studies have excluded patients over the age of 75.
To make their findings the researchers analyzed data from 1,757 patients who underwent DBS for PD between the years of 2000 and 2009. The average patient was about 61 years old; 33.1 percent of the patients were 65 years or older while only seven percent were 75 years or older.
Out of the patient pool 7.5 percent had at least one complication related to the procedure during the 90-day follow up period, these included "wound infections (3.6 percent), pneumonia (2.3 percent), hemorrhage or hematoma (1.4 percent) or pulmonary embolism (0.6 percent)," JAMA reported. Increasing patient age from 50 to 90 did not appear to impact the overall 90-day complication rate.
"This suggests a possible expansion of the therapeutic window traditionally considered for DBS candidates, or at least the removal of age as a rigid exclusion criterion," JAMA wrote.
PD is neurodegenerative brain disorder that progresses slowly in most individuals, the National Parkinson's Foundation reported. The disease itself is not fatal but complications from it are 14th top cause of death in the United States. There is currently no cure for PD but a number of treatments can help improve quality of life.
