Tony Howells, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s nine years ago, received the experimental implant in 2019 at Southmead Hospital in Bristol. Howells says the impact the implant has had on his life since then has been “amazing.”
“Before the operation I went for a walk on Boxing Day with my wife and I got 200 yards from the actual car,” Howells told the UK’s South West News Service. “I had to turn around and go back because I just couldn’t walk. Then after the operation, which was 12 months later, I went on Boxing Day again and we went for 2.5 miles and we could’ve went [sic] further.”
A Parkinson’s disease diagnosis usually follows a significant (around 80 percent) loss of nerve cells in the part of the brain known as the substantia nigra, which is tasked with generating dopamine. When nerve cells in this region of the brain experience damage or death, the patient’s dopamine levels drop dramatically, which causes the nervous system to struggle to regulate bodily movement. The nervous system attempts to make up for this by firing abnormal nerve impulses, which is what slows the patient’s movement, stiffens their muscles, or causes bodily tremors.
(Image: Professor Tim Denison/Oxford University)
It goes without saying that these symptoms have the power to massively affect one’s quality of life. “You can’t understand how frustrating [Parkinson’s] is until it happens to you,” Howells said. “The most difficult thing to accept is the decline in daily activities like tying-up shoelaces, taking three or four minutes instead of seconds.”
While there isn’t yet a cure for the disease, some patients elect to receive a treatment called deep brain stimulation, or DBS. Traditionally this has involved surgically implanting a relatively large impulse generator battery (IGB) in the patient’s abdomen or under their collarbone. The IGB then sends electrical impulses to the substantia nigra via wires under the patient’s skin. Given the complicated nature of such a procedure, this form of treatment has typically been reserved for young and otherwise healthy patients.
The implant Howells received may change that. Because it’s far smaller than a traditional IGB, it sits directly on the brain, reducing the need to conduct invasive surgery with multiple parts of the body. This also means surgeons can implant the new device in half the time.
The North Bristol NHS Trust plans to provide the implant to 25 more Parkinson’s patients throughout a trial that will extend into next year. Depending on the trial’s success, the implant may be brought to a broader swath of patients worldwide.
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