Transcranial Pulse Stimulation in Parkinson’s Disease
Survey on efficacy of TPS in Parkinson’s disease with excellent results
Parkinson’s disease, along with Alzheimer’s dementia, is also one of those neurodegenerative diseases whose number of sufferers is steadily increasing. In Germany alone, up to 400,000 people are currently affected. Worldwide, the number of patients has increased from 2.5 million in 1990 to 6.1 million in 2016. At the same time, the frequency of the disease is also increasing by more than 20% within individual age groups.
Morbus Parkinson’s disease – progression unstoppable so far
To date, treatment of Parkinson’s disease has mostly consisted of medication with concomitant physical therapy. The most commonly used therapies are drugs designed to increase dopamine levels in the brain or stimulate dopamine receptors. Levodopa in combination with carbidopa is a commonly used medication, but there are others such as dopamine agonists and MAO-B inhibitors. These drugs are intended to improve the symptoms of Parkinson’s and thus improve the quality of life of patients. However, they cannot stop disease progression and often have side effects, especially with long-term use.
TPS: Subject of Clinical Research for the Treatment of Parkinson’s
Transcranial Pulse Stimulation (TPS) has long been the subject of scientific investigation regarding its therapeutic potential for patient:s with Parkinson’s disease. It is used in many medical institutions and practices as part of off-label treatments.
A recent survey of medical professionals conducted by Henning Lohse-Busch, MD, a co-developer of TPS, clearly underscores the therapeutic benefits of outpatient TPS therapy. The results support the extensive documentary work of Dr. Lohse-Busch, who has over a decade of long-term observational experience. During this period, he regularly treated several Parkinson’s disease patients who received a single TPS session every month after a 2-week initial therapy.
After observing the patients, their UPDRS (Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale) total score improved by an average of 44 percent and their motor function score improved by 52 percent, both three months after initial TPS therapy. The outcome remained stable with slight fluctuations over 5 years. One patient showed a continuous improvement of 71 percent in PDQ (Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire) over a period of more than 10 years.
Survey: transcranial pulse stimulation also shows high efficacy in Parkinson’s
The current survey, in which 11 clinics and TPS centers participated, included a total of 39 patients. Remarkably, patients with moderate to severe stages of the disease in particular were able to derive significant benefits from Transcranial Pulse Stimulation.
The following table shows the results in detail:
In the overall evaluation, TPS showed efficacy in 80 percent of Parkinson’s patients, according to the test results
Survey results showed improvements in symptomatology and general condition for most of the patients:in treated. Very strong improvements were noted in six sufferers, while 18 patient:s showed strong improvements, including 11 with moderate PD and five with severe PD. Good improvements were documented in seven patients.
No changes were seen in six of the 39 cases mentioned. Also, in two patients, the disease progression continued despite treatment. This finding underscores the individual variability in treatment response and the continued need for further research in this area.
As would be expected, no significant side effects were noted during or after treatment with TPS. In summary, 31 of the 39 PD patients, or about 80 percent, benefited from TPS to varying degrees. This encouraging finding is consistent with the results of many TPS investigations, studies, and treatment outcomes in Alzheimer’s dementia in clinical practice.
Treating Parkinson’s with TPS: Dr. Lohse-Busch advises clear treatment approach
“This nonrepresentative survey on TPS in use for Parkinson’s symptomatology shows markedly positive results that urgently need to be followed up,” Dr. Lohse-Busch assessed the anonymized analysis of his survey.
“It is important in the treatment of all indications that can be treated with Transcranial Pulse Stimulation to see the human brain as a unit,” notes the TPS developer: “We must use the shock waves of the TPS in the 30-minute treatment to 50 percent diffuse, ie distributed throughout the brain. This way, we are able to activate a whole range of neurotransmitters all over the brain. Another 50 percent must be treated in the ‘regions of interest’ in the case of Parkinson’s disease, i.e., in the affected basal ganglia, the hippocampus, and in the cerebellum and precuneus. Thus, we can achieve the best possible and lasting results with shock wave therapy TPS even in Parkinson’s disease.”
While scientific research on TPS in Parkinson’s continues, medical institutions and practices can already use the therapy beneficially as a complementary measure in Parkinson’s patients as part of an off-label therapy.
