AUTOLOGOUS TRANSPLANTATION OF THE CERVICAL SYMPATHETIC-GANGLION INTO THE PARKINSONIAN BRAIN - CASE-REPORT

THE AUTHORS HAVE reported a clinical trial of an autologous cervical s ympathetic ganglion transplanted into the brain of a parkinsonian pati ent. A 45-year-old woman presented with bradykinesia and a gait distur bance for 8 years under L-dopa treatment. The patient underwent stereo tactic transplantation of the right stellate ganglion into the right p utamen. She showed marked amelioration of bradykinesia and gait distur bance ? month after the operation, and she was able to conduct her act ivities of daily living without requiring L-dopa administration. The p atient continued to improve gradually until 3 months after the operati on. Two years after surgery, the patient functions independently as a housewife. The right hand tremor, however, became slightly worse after the operation, but it was transient. The patient developed a permanen t right-sided Horner's syndrome after resection of the cervical sympat hetic ganglion. Taken together with our previous data obtained from an imal experiments, this case suggests that the autologous cervical symp athetic ganglion can be donor tissue for neural transplantation in Par kinson's disease.