If you read the article I posted, it says that Jannetta's peers had some pretty hotly contested debates (I can only imagine!) about the merits of the procedure for trigeminal neuralgia way back when. And yet today, vascular decompression is, from what I understand, the most likely treatment to permanently and completely resolve that condition. They offer botox, drugs, radiation/gamma knife, but the vascular decompression has to date had the highest and most complete success ratefor TGN.

It IS very dangerous surgery. Our neuro told us the risk of stroke was higher than normal and death risk higher as well, as high as 5%. But all brain surgery is risky, we know this, and people have DBS every day, brain surgery for tumors, etc. A skilled neurosurgeon trained in this procedure knows what he's doing and one would just have to decide whether the risk was acceptable.

As for the skeptical comments shared, I've read this doctor's comments before and while I understand what he is saying, I don't buy all of it. I have seen our MRI from several years ago and the compression is indicated by the arterial line not being even in width, like it's being squeezed in a weird kind of way, you can actually see it. Dr. Okun makes good points and if I had access to all the debates from 20 years ago, I can't help but wonder if many of those same arguments he makes now were made back then and proven incorrect, at least for a large number of people. Our own neuro made many of these same points at our appt. to discusse this, so I do think they are legit...but at the same time he admitted if decompression alleviated at least physical symptoms, he would be on board to recommend it being done. We all know DBS does not alleviate all PD symptoms and yet thousands upon thousands of people have had that surgery, so I don't view this as any different other than the fact that it may be much more dangerous surgery and of course, needs to be established that it can provide benefit.

That PD could be permanently alleviated, either in whole or part, by a surgery, AND that it could be caused in whole or part by a physical problem, is such a radical shift in thinking that I can see why it rocks the medical and research establishment.

I could be totally wrong in all of this, I just believe it deserves further investigation before it is poo-pooed. Dr. Jannetta has a pretty incredible list of accomplishments, and seems quite sincere in his desire and drive to truly get to the root of the problem. We'll see. Thanks for posting the link to Okum's comments, it's good to have everything out there.

Oh, for those interested, I think you can find Jannetta on youtube....but I think parts of the interview show brain surgery itself and if you are squeemish, might want to skip it, it's pretty horrific, even though it's just a very short clip. Way too much visual for me on that one, just be warned.