To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: FDA Advisory Committee Recommends New Medtronic Therapy for Tremors URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/2114E.htm Doctor's Guide March 14, 1997
MINNEAPOLIS, March 14 /PRNewswire/ -- A new treatment for unilateral Essential Tremor and tremor associated with Parkinson's disease was recommended unanimously for marketing clearance by the Neurological Device Panel Advisory Committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Essential Tremor is the most common neurological movement disorder in this country. The condition afflicts at least a million Americans, usually age 45 or older. Parkinson's disease, a progressive and degenerative neurological disease characterized by tremor as one of its four primary symptoms, affects approximately 500,000 people in the United States. Tremor worsens from mild to disabling at a variable rate, depending on the individual. The therapy uses an implanted device, similar to a cardiac pacemaker, to deliver electrical stimulation to block or override brain signals that cause tremor. Medtronic's new therapy allows the stimulation level to be adjusted to the needs of each patient. Potential adverse effects of the therapy can include tingling of limbs (paresthesia), slight paralysis (paresis), slurred speech (dysarthria) and loss of balance (disequilibrium). Based on the research presented to the advisory committee and submitted to FDA, adverse effects were minor and were reduced or disappeared when the stimulation was decreased or turned off. The risks associated with surgery, although infrequent, include intracranial hemorrhage. Medtronic, Inc., headquartered in Minneapolis, is a medical technology company, specializing in implantable and invasive therapies. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.