Querétaro, Qro. Parkinson’s disease is associated with adulthood, but in recent studies specialists have detected that it also occurs in young people and its presence has become more frequent.

In interview with The DayYamil Matuk Pérez, a doctor specializing in Neurology and a senior specialist in Parkinson’s, Movement Disorders and Neurodegenerative Diseases, indicates that Parkinson’s “is more common than it seems. It is a disease that we still do not have the possibility of preventing.” He adds that the vast majority of patients with the disease are patients without an identifiable diagnosis. These are “patients who have Parkinson’s disease and we call it idiopathic, that is, we do not know what caused it. Therefore, it is difficult today to prevent Parkinson’s disease.”

Matuk Pérez describes that the clinical characteristics of Parkinson’s disease are divided into two large groups: the group of motor disorders and the group of non-motor symptoms. The first group is the one that provides the diagnosis and attention should be paid to four main cardinal symptoms such as tremor (generally at rest), body rigidity, slowness of movement and postural instability. “These four cardinal symptoms are not always all together. There are times in which these cardinal symptoms, perhaps there are only three in the patient, there are patients who with two of these cardinal symptoms already have Parkinson’s disease,” details the specialist.

Origin and myths of Parkinson’s

The origin of Parkinson’s disease is neurodegenerative therefore, it is progressive. From a clinical point of view, the patient loses dopamine in the brain, which is why tremors and slowness may occur. These motor symptoms are an indicator that there has already been a loss of at least 80 percent of dopamine.

Although Parkinson’s disease can be associated with adults, symptoms occur more frequently over the age of 50 or 60; although there have been cases of people close to 21 years old.

Parkinson’s disease is not a fatal disease, says Yamil Matuk Pérez. “It is a myth. In fact, when we give them the diagnosis, the patient goes through a deep mourning of the disease. It is a myth that must be removed, that idea must be demystified. Parkinson’s disease is a disease that can be controlled very well with treatment. It is a disease that, well treated, the patient lives with quality of life in general, can be well and can face the following years of his life after the diagnosis.”

The quality of life of patients goes hand in hand with pharmacological treatments, but over time they could generate adverse effects and there probably will not be the same response to said treatments. For this there is deep brain stimulation surgery. A surgery that in the words of Yamil Matus Pérez is a “very safe surgery. It is a surgery with a very low risk of complications and the benefit it offers is enormous, it is very high and the risks are very very low.” This treatment is available in the private sector and public institutions such as the IMSS or the ISSSTE.

Patients with Parkinson’s disease eligible for surgery will have the characteristics of taking their medications more than five or six times a day or having complications with the medications; also with more than five years of disease or who are very intolerant to Parkinson’s treatments.

A complete neuropsychological assessment is also performed for surgery. Andrea Uribam, a clinical neuropsychologist, explains that in this assessment “the cognitive processes are analyzed and in addition to this, an emotional assessment will be carried out, where we need to identify symptoms of depression and anxiety and impulse control disorder. Why? Because indeed Parkinson’s disease will naturally bring with it symptoms of anxiety and depression.”

Quality of life with Parkinson’s

Julissa Chávez is fifty-three years old and is a Parkinson’s patient. In his imagination he never thought that he could suffer from the disease. She was diagnosed at age forty-nine, and over time she became intolerant to drug treatment, so after an exhaustive list of tests she was a candidate for deep brain stimulation surgery.

After learning about the characteristics of the surgery, he thinks that “it was the smartest decision I could make in my life,” as he expressed it to The Day. Just the name of the surgery “makes you feel very afraid and many people say: It’s horrible or it has to be horrible, it’s not,” commented Chávez. She adds that she is very happy. “To this day I don’t take a single medication. And well, you see me. I don’t seem to be a Parkinson’s patient. My quality of life changed radically.” His daily life goes on as normally as possible. From driving to take your kids to school or going to a business appointment.

According to the patient, this intervention lasted about 12 hours, during which she was awake 90 percent of the time. Four medical teams participated in the operating room during the surgery. Functional neurosurgeons specialize in carrying the electrodes that will stimulate the deep regions of the brain; the team of neuroanesthesiologists who help keep the patient in the right condition for surgery. The biomedical engineering team, which are engineers and neurologists highly specialized in Parkinson’s. In this described procedure, the surgeon introduces a series of electrodes into the patient’s brain that will generate stimuli to control the symptoms of the disease.

This surgery is practiced not only by the private sector but also by the Federal Ministry of Health through the National Institute of Neurology, as well as the National Medical Center Siglo XXI, on November 20 of the ISSSTE.