Home / Health / DBS Surgery Offers New Hope for Severe Tourette Syndrome
DBS Surgery Offers New Hope for Severe Tourette Syndrome
4 Jul
Summary
- Deep brain stimulation surgery dramatically reduced severe Tourette tics.
- Abigail Bailey regained independence and her career after surgery.
- DBS, once for Parkinson's, is now an emerging option for Tourette.
Abigail Bailey, a 24-year-old from Hookstown, Pennsylvania, has experienced a life-changing recovery thanks to deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery for severe Tourette syndrome. Diagnosed at age 3, her condition resulted in debilitating motor and vocal tics that impacted her daily life, forcing her to leave her job and often leaving her bedridden.
In March of this year, neurosurgeon Dr. Donald Whiting of the AHN Neuroscience Institute performed DBS surgery at Allegheny General Hospital. This procedure involves implanting electrodes in the brain to send mild electrical impulses, which block abnormal nerve signals. Since the surgery, Abigail's tics have reduced from nearly constant to a few per hour, with expectations of complete elimination as settings are fine-tuned.
DBS has been a treatment for movement disorders since the 1980s, but its use for Tourette syndrome is an emerging, off-label option for severe cases unresponsive to other treatments. Dr. Whiting views Abigail's success as a continuation of the progress seen in earlier DBS surgeries for conditions like dystonia, highlighting the potential of neuromodulation to restore lives affected by severe neurological illnesses.
