By Daniela Asenjo C.
Journalist at Clínica Alemana

"Currently in Chile one out of every 10,000 residents has Parkinson's Disease and 1% of them are over 60", indicates Dr. Carolina Kunstmann, a neurologist at Clínica Alemana. The World Health Organization believes that worldwide, the number of people with Parkinson's will double over the next twenty years.

Since 2002, Clínica Alemana has been performing a surgical procedure to treat Parkinson's in which microelectrodes are implanted deep in the brain. This operation seeks to improve the quality of life of Parkinson's patients.

This surgical procedure, called Deep Brain Stimulation, has already been performed on 12 patients at Clínica Alemana which is the only medical center in Chile with both a professional team dedicated to this procedure and the necessary technology to perform it.

Dr. Felipe Valdivia, Chief of Clínica Alemana's Neurosurgery Unit, explains that "there are evaluation protocols before the surgery and a subsequent monitoring. The results of the surgery show a clear improvement in the quality of life of these patients with, among other improvements, a substantial decrease in motor fluctuations and dyskinesia plus a reduction of nearly 50% in the need for medications".

Dr. Kunstmann notes that "this technique allows us to improve symptoms that no longer respond to medications, as they can be reversed using the brain stimulators".

Dr. Felipe Valdivia, Chief of Neurosurgery Dr. Carolina Kunstmann, Neurologist