Deep Brain Stimulation is not a one-time fix, say Michael Okun, MD, Kelly Foote, MD, and Hubert Fernandez, MD of the Univeristy of Florida Movement Disorders Center. It is an ongoing process that requires frequent checkups and programming of the device. More importantly, deep brain stimulation starts with choosing the right patients for the surgery.
To that end, Drs. Okun, Foote and Fernandez designed the Florida Surgical Questionnaire for Parkinson's Disease (FLASQ-PD). The five-minute survey assists physicians who have not specialized in movement disorders in identifying candidates who can then be referred to a center such as the UFMDC.
For more details on the FLASQ-PD:
QuickTime H.264