42-year-old scientist first in Asia to get brain device for Parkinson’s

Scientist JVS Harikrishna (left) with Dr Paresh Doshi

For a 42-year-old scientist, working with Parkinson's disease for seven years got tougher as his hands and legs became stiff like logs, his toes and fingers would curl up and gave severe pain. JVS Harikrishna, a resident of Ahmedabad, is all set to get discharged from Jaslok Hospital as he becomes the first patient in Asia to undergo deep brain stimulation surgery (DBS) using an advanced auto-sensing device to control the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Harikrishna, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at a very young age, said, "At times, medication also didn't work. There were several times when I got stuck while working. My work hours went up. That's when I decided to come to Mumbai a month and half back."

Dr Paresh Doshi, the neurosurgeon who operated on Harikrishna, gave him the option of the advanced auto-sensing device named Percept PC. Dr Doshi said, "The surgery involved implantation of an electrode into the specific target nucleus of the brain and is now a well-established therapy for patients with advanced Parkinson's disease."

Patient was awake

He said this auto-sensing device records signals from the brain over a long period of time to help co-relate with the patients. "The rigidity and Brady kinesis that comes along with Parkinson's disease is captured by the device. Based on that, we can program the pacemaker to deliver stimulation to control the symptoms," said Dr Doshi. The surgery was done under local anaesthesia wherein Harikrishna remained awake to provide feedback during operation about the amount of improvement in the clinical symptoms.

Talking about the difference between conventional DBS using a conventional pacemaker and DBS with the advanced pacemaker - which was used for Harikrishna - Dr Doshi said, "The conventional DBS does not have an auto feedback option. It does not have any recording capability of the patient's clinical status in real-time. And hence, this is an open-loop system, meaning delivering current only as per the physician's judgement."

He said the advanced pacemaker can analyse the patient's symptoms and the patient can also document his periods of difficulty which can be controlled by delivering stimulation during that particular period. As Harikrishna showed signs of improvement post-surgery, doctors have reduced 80 per cent of the medicines he was taking to control the symptoms.

"We are extremely proud of being the first in the Asian region to have done a successful surgery using Percept PC and are sure that this will change the course of Indian patients suffering from Parkinson's. We truly hope to be able to help them live a better life," said Dr Doshi.