Neurology
I started Neurology today. A rotation I have been somewhat dreading for a variety of reasons. It started off a little slow, but I learned today that we can put electrodes in the brains of Parkinson's Disease patients which counter act the dyskinesias that are associated with L-dopa treatment.
In layman's terms, when people are treated with dopamine like substances, they are again able to move and assume something of a normal life (ever see the movie Awakenings with Robin Williams?). The side effects, however, include these horrible writhing movements of arms and legs which can be just as debilitating as the disease itself. I watched a tech turn up the voltage on one of these electrodes and the patient's leg movements simply stopped. So cool. This is apparently an every day sort of thing in this particular neurology practice.
Maybe it won't be too bad after all.
In layman's terms, when people are treated with dopamine like substances, they are again able to move and assume something of a normal life (ever see the movie Awakenings with Robin Williams?). The side effects, however, include these horrible writhing movements of arms and legs which can be just as debilitating as the disease itself. I watched a tech turn up the voltage on one of these electrodes and the patient's leg movements simply stopped. So cool. This is apparently an every day sort of thing in this particular neurology practice.
Maybe it won't be too bad after all.
posted by rob at 10:31 PM
3 Comments:
Very cool.
More neurology posts, please.
It's Marsha...I second Brian's request...
Implantable zappers have been around for a while, though they are used in a different capacity. I looked into getting a job with Medtronic, who manufacture such interesting devices such an implantable defibrillator to zap your heart when it goes weird, or another brain implant to zap the regions associated with epilepsy when a seizure comes on.
The skill and expertise lies in programming these little suckers to recognize what is good and what is bad, cause sometimes, you don't need that extra shock to the brain/heart when you jump into a cold shower.
Pzzzt.
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