Dr Peter Jannetta has passed away
 

There was much discussion in this forum 4 years ago about Jannetta's theory that peduncle compression was a cause of PD. See the thread started by RLSmi, "Regarding Dr Jannetta's recent article on PD ...",

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread160149.html

Jannetta's data showed:

"78% of the PD group were found to have distortion of one or both of their peduncles. By contrast, only 10% of the controls (2 individuals) had the distortions, and one of those was later diagnosed with Parkinson's."

(Note the very small sample size.)

Does anyone know of more recent work in this area? Has the theory been refuted?

John

Although I didn't get surgery correction I did go to a dentist famaliar with neuromuscular applications ....he coordinated with an upper cervical chiro specialist to adjust and build a mouthguard that adjusted my TMJ (designed to increase circulation of blood to the brain (same endgame diff means than surgery)....I had a shoulder that had been dropped significantly since I can remember----my dresses and blouses used to really list to my right to the point o f going off my shoulder often and this was corrected..my shoulder is still dropped a little but not nearly as much and I don't wear the mouthguard anymore....I think that it has contributed to my well being....There are some very interesting videos' of pders positive response to this venue of therapy...

What a loss for the world
 

I was very saddened to read the world's loss of this great man. He was a true pioneer, able to forge ahead with his theory on microvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia (which proved to be right) in the face of scorn and doubt from pretty much everyone around him. Who knows how many tens of thousands of people have been relieved of the nightmare of trigemnial neuralgia because of Dr. Jannettta and the procedure he pioneered. Still more will be helped in the future.

I was one of those who was following his work on microvascular decompression for PD. I hope someone will continue this work so that can learn whether it can help PWP.