They live with slow movements, rigidity of the limbs and resting tremors which may, in addition to the hands, affect the legs or lips or tongue or neck. The tremors and the rigidity and the difficulty in movement in some cases become so incapacitating that the person is unable to effectively care for himself. So when news reports showed a Parkinson's patient who had just undergone a novel neurosurgical procedure get up from bed and run down the hospital's east wing, there was a renewed optimism in the minds of many. And now this medical advancement has taken on a newer and larger life as a new study reports that this procedure is capable of producing a long-term benefit in Parkinson's patients. The clinical picture Parkinson's disease is a disorder of movement that results from a deficiency of the brain neurotransmitter dopamine.
Neurotransmitters are chemicals that allow for communication between neurons.
The structures in the brain that are intimately involved with movement are collectively referred to as the basal ganglia, and they utilize dopamine as one of their primary neurotransmitters. A loss of dopamine-secreting cells in one of the basal ganglia structures, the substantia nigra, is what is responsible for the dopamine reduction and, ultimately, for the Parkinson's symptoms. However, the cause of this neuropathology remains unclear. Difficulties in voluntary movement are a hallmark of the disease and they are termed dyskinesias. The muscle rigidity and tremor ultimately progress to a such a degree as to leave the patient incapacitated.