Well, the Spheramine trials only did one side with the first six people. I don't know how the others have responded, but I have toe-curling and more rigidity on the "undone" side. But talk about placebo effect - this could just be how I "think" the one side is. There is also some spillover of dopamine production results, so it's hard to tell. And who is to say that one side wouldnt have been worse than the other anyway? It's a tough call.

I think we should look at how rapidly a person is advanacing - and figure out a formula that can predict how they would be say 2-3 years from now. Do the surgery and then compare the projected improvement over the actual. Thats one way of looking at it. Or like DBS, just see if there is improvement - period.

I say all of this assuming thhat the risks outweigh the benefits of sham surgery. We're not asking that sham surgery be stopped - we just want to take a close look at it to ensure we aren't putting the patient at more risk than is needed.

Peggy