When tremor, stiffness, slowness, or involuntary movements are no longer controlled by medication, precise surgery can restore function. Start by finding your condition below.
Surgery does not cure these conditions or stop them from progressing, but it can dramatically reduce the symptoms that medication no longer controls. Each page explains the condition and the surgical options that can help.
Voluntary movement is governed by loops connecting the cortex, the basal ganglia, and the thalamus. In Parkinson's disease, tremor, and dystonia these motor circuits fire in abnormal rhythms that translate into the symptoms a patient feels. Surgery works by changing the activity of a precise node within these loops.
Increasingly, the target is refined using each patient's own white-matter connectivity, with both deterministic and probabilistic tractography, so that stimulation engages the intended pathway (for example, the tract that carries tremor) and limits side effects. The same map can guide either an adjustable stimulating electrode or a precise, often incisionless, lesion.
Surgery is considered only after a movement-disorders neurologist has optimized medical therapy. A careful workup confirms the diagnosis, documents the response to medication (for Parkinson's, the response to levodopa strongly predicts surgical benefit), and assesses cognition. Neurology and neurosurgery then review the case together to select the procedure, the target, and the side that will give the most benefit. Surgery works best for idiopathic Parkinson's disease; some atypical forms of parkinsonism respond poorly and are screened for during evaluation.
Ahmet Fatih Atik, MD is a neurosurgeon focused on stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, including deep brain stimulation, focused-ultrasound and radiosurgical procedures, and stereotactic lesioning for movement disorders, with a research program in connectivity-guided targeting. This site is an independent educational resource and is not, by itself, medical advice.
If a movement disorder is no longer controlled by medication, or you are a clinician considering a referral, share a brief outline and I will be in touch. Please keep it general and do not include detailed medical records or sensitive health information here.