For Parkinson’s patients, deep brain stimulation (DBS) can help control a number of neurological symptoms, like muscle spasms and stiffness. But one weird side effect has surfaced in a string of case studies: Some patients, no matter how good their motor skills, lose their ability to swim after the procedure.
Researchers from the University of Zürich in Switzerland published a report today in Neurology identifying nine cases where patients couldn’t stay afloat after DBS. And these people weren’t water-shy, first time doggie paddlers — two of the cases involved former competitive swimmers.
And, researchers report, the entire cohort had had no trouble swimming even after their Parkinson’s diagnosis. Rather, it seems that the invasive procedure — which involves implanting electrodes around the brain and heart to intercept erratic electrical signals — is what triggered the patients’ lack of buoyancy.
Despite the puzzling pattern, researchers aren’t sure exactly why DBS could ...
