Curr Treat Option Ne
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Surgical therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD) has been a treatment option for over 100 years. Advances in the knowledge of basal ganglia physiology and in techniques of stereotactic neurosurgery and neuroimaging have allowed more accurate placement of lesions or "brain pacemakers" in the sensorimotor regions of target nuclei. This, in turn, has led to improved efficacy with fewer complications than in the past. ⋯ These include embryonic mesencephalic tissue transplantation, human embryonic stem cell transplantation, and gene-derived methods of intracerebral implantation of growth factors and dopamine- producing cell lines. It will be important to determine whether DBS, if performed before the onset of motor response complications to medical therapy, may prevent this stage of disease altogether or delay it for a significant period of time. The same question applies to the future with restorative therapy.