Innovative Treatment Gives Parkinson’s Patient Her Life Back

See how experts at Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute used an innovative procedure called deep brain stimulation to eliminate the symptoms Parkinson’s disease was causing in 52-year-old Ana Velasco of Doral Park.
{TRANSCRIPT}: - I've had Parkinson's for 11 years and since I got to Baptist and I met Dr. Torres and I met Dr. Sporrer, I'm a human being. They gave me a second opportunity in my life.
- First time I saw Ana Velasco was about a year ago, and she has had Parkinson's disease for a while.
- I first met Mrs. Velasco several months ago. She was referred to me because of a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, and she had a lot of the typical symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
- My eye started twitching, from a twitch in my eye, went to my finger. My finger was just like out of control. Then my hand, then my arm, then my leg, then my foot to the point that no quality of living.
- For somebody like her who's young, and independent and working, it truly impairs some of the activities that she wanted to do.
- You can't eat, you can't write, you can't type, you can't work. Your life just crumbles, just like a building. That's what you feel.
- Although she had been seeing physicians for a long time in other facilities, there is always something more that we can do.
- I saw many doctors, three doctors, I can't complain about them, but Baptist people are there, what you need, and they look at you as a human being.
- We have to start by understanding the patient and understanding the patient needs, who she is, what she likes, how the disease is impairing her.
- Dr. Torres has a lot of knowledge. He opened up like a fan of options that I could do.
- We tried medication adjustments and noticed that we couldn't achieve enough benefits, so we talked about advanced therapies for her Parkinson's disease.
- I started looking at different procedures that were available, and I found this deep brain stimulation.
- Deep brain stimulation is complex, that's for sure, but in layman's terms, I think of the circuits of our brain as almost like a motor. In terms of Parkinson's disease, you're losing the cells that make dopamine, which I think of as the fuel that runs that circuit or that motor. Deep brain stimulation stimulates that circuit with electricity so that you don't need as much dopamine.
- Deep brain stimulation programs across the United States work in different ways. Here at Baptist, we discuss every patient together with neurology, neurosurgery, movement disorder, neuropsychology, and then make together a single recommendation back to our patients.
- I considered her a great candidate for deep brain stimulation because she had a known diagnosis for several years, and we had completed the workup, which includes neuropsychological testing, as well as motor testing, on and off medications, which gives us a sense of how successful we're going to be with the deep brain stimulation.
- Any surgery has a risk, let's be honest. I guess because you're dealing with the brain, not everybody dares to do it. I had the support of my family. Jesus's support was unbelievable.
- The procedure is fairly straightforward. We don't shave the hair, but we do place a ring on the patient's head to keep it steady during the operation, and then we make a very small hole in the skull so that we can introduce this electrode, and then while the patient is awake, we're able to hook it up to a temporary battery and see what the results are going to be. The second portion of the operation is to place what's called an internal pulse generator or a battery under the skin just below the collarbone, and then connect it under the skin to the electrode that's in the brain.
- So many people are involved behind those curtains that you don't know. They're amazing, each one of them. Honestly, it's just like they break that coldness of a surgery that it's scary. They make you feel comfortable, and that is so important. I have my life back. It's a reset. If you have Parkinson's, look for help. There's hope.