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        New Message Board Archives >> 2005 General Board Posts >> Hypothalamus Surgery???
        
(Message started by: PrettyH8Machine on Apr 27^th, 2005, 11:39am)

Title: Hypothalamus Surgery???
Post by PrettyH8Machine on Apr 27^th, 2005, 11:39am

My neuro at Wash. U in St Louis this morning told me in Italy a team of doctors is working on a procedure for Hypothalamus surgery. Has anyone else heard of this? He said I am one of 5 patients he sees that would qualify for this treatment. I kind of want to wait until they've done it a few times though and uh, uh - get it right! I'd hate to wind up with tourrettes or something weird the rest of my life, and still be getting CH's. Gamma Knife scared me away after hearing a few horror stories.

He also told me to start taking Riboflavin (Vit. B-2) 200 mg 2 x day. He said it is worth a try and said the only way Riboflavin can hurt you is if you get hit by the truck delivering it. So, getting a bottle this weekend.

Peace,
Carl D

Title: Re: Hypothalamus Surgery???
Post by Gator on Apr 27^th, 2005, 2:36pm

He's probably talking about the experiments with hypothalamic (or deep brain) stimulation. I'm with you - I'm not yet ready to let someone go tiptoeing through my grey matter.

Good luck on the B-2.

Title: Re: Hypothalamus Surgery???
Post by Filbert on Apr 27^th, 2005, 3:00pm

Here's what happened in Belgium Carl. Wouldn't be a road I'd choose to travel down at the present time. 1: Brain. 2005 Feb 2; [Epub ahead of print] Related Articles, Links

Hypothalamic stimulation in chronic cluster headache: a pilot study of efficacy and mode of action.

Schoenen J, Di Clemente L, Vandenheede M, Fumal A, De Pasqua V, Mouchamps M, Remacle JM, de Noordhout AM.

University Department of Neurology, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium; University Department of Neuroanatomy, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium.

Summary We enrolled six patients suffering from refractory chronic cluster headache in a pilot trial of neurostimulation of the ipsilateral ventroposterior hypothalamus using the stereotactic coordinates published previously. After the varying durations needed to determine optimal stimulation parameters and a mean follow-up of 14.5 months, the clinical outcome is excellent in three patients (two are pain-free; one has fewer than three attacks per month), but unsatisfactory in one patient, who only has had transient remissions. Mean voltage is 3.28 V, diplopia being the major factor limiting its increase. When the stimulator was switched off in one pain-free patient, attacks resumed after 3 months until it was turned on again. In one patient the implantation procedure had to be interrupted because of a panic attack with autonomic disturbances. Another patient died from an intracerebral haemorrhage that developed along the lead tract several hours after surgery; there were no other vascular changes on post-mortem examination. After 1 month, the hypothalamic stimulation induced resistance against the attack-triggering agent nitroglycerin and tended to increase pain thresholds at extracephalic, but not at cephalic, sites. It had no detectable effect on neurohypophyseal hormones or melatonin excretion. We conclude that hypothalamic stimulation has remarkable efficacy in most, but not all, patients with treatment-resistant chronic cluster headache. Its efficacy is not due to a simple analgesic effect or to hormonal changes. Intracerebral haemorrhage cannot be neglected in the risk evaluation of the procedure. Whether it might be more prevalent than in deep-brain stimulation for movement disorders remains to be determined.

PMID: 15689358 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

All the best Filb.

Title: Re: Hypothalamus Surgery???
Post by medic1852 on Apr 27^th, 2005, 3:02pm

Personally I would rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal labotomy!