Question 1: Can Parkinson’s disease be cured? Answer: Parkinson’s disease cannot be cured! Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative disease of the nervous system that occurs in middle-aged and elderly people. The main lesion site is the substantia nigra in the brain. The dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra degenerate and decrease in number. Symptoms begin to appear when the number of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra decreases to a certain level. As time progresses, there are fewer and fewer dopaminergic neurons left, and the symptoms become more severe. Our current medications and surgical treatments only improve the patient’s symptoms and do not cure the disease. Question 2: How far do I need to go before considering surgery? Answer: For most patients with Parkinson’s disease, in the early stage of the disease, levodopa treatment is effective, and the symptoms improve significantly after taking the medication. This period lasts for about 4-5 years, and surgery is not needed in this period. As the disease progresses and the drug dose increases, motor complications gradually appear, and the impact on the quality of life gradually worsens. Clinical trials abroad have confirmed that early deep brain electrical stimulation (brain pacemaker) (Deep Brain Stimulation DBS) surgery for motor complications can give full play to the long-term efficacy of DBS in a comparative manner, and DBS treatment is expected to reduce the dosage of levodopa and reduce the impact of motor complications while improving motor symptoms and motor complications. However, due to the limitations of medical level and economic and social conditions, domestic patients with Parkinson’s disease usually consider surgical treatment only in the late stage of the disease. The more severe the symptoms are at the time of surgery, the less effective the surgery is in improving the symptoms. Therefore, my suggestion is that surgery should be considered when medication fails to achieve satisfactory results. Weighing the risks and benefits, appropriately advancing DBS treatment allows patients to fully benefit from the long-term efficacy of DBS over a limited course of the disease. Question 3: Is brain surgery risky? Answer: Deep brain electrical stimulation is a stereotactic surgery with minimal surgical trauma. Advanced equipment such as MRI, electrophysiological recording instruments, directional instruments and neuronavigation are utilized in the surgery, which can avoid important neurovessels and avoid blindness, and the surgery is minimally invasive within 1mm. The chance of brain hemorrhage after surgery is less than 1%. Question 4: Can the elderly tolerate the surgery? Answer: Deep brain electrical stimulation is a two-step procedure: the first step is the implantation of electrodes in the brain. During this procedure, the patient is put under local anesthesia, so the patient is awake most of the time and the procedure takes about 2-3 hours. The second step is the implantation of a pulse generator in the chest. During this procedure, the patient is placed under general anesthesia with intubation and the procedure takes about 1 hour. It is generally safe for most patients to tolerate this procedure in the elderly, as long as they do not have more serious heart, brain or lung disease.