Pisces stimulation for motor neurone disease.

Abstract

Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord using the Pisces system (Medtronic Inc.) has been used for treating five patients with motor neurone disease. A short clinical description is given of each case, together with results of stimulation. In all five patients improvement was dramatic, but in two of them the progress of the disease was not halted. One, with advanced bulbar symptoms and signs, died two months after the implantation of the stimulating electrodes, although there had been initial improvement in her condition. One patient was lost to follow up. The period of stimulation in the remaining four patients ranged from eleven to six months. No medication was given other than antibiotics during the initial test phase, and all patients had physiotherapy. The results in these patients warrants continuation of this form of treatment in suitably selected patients.