Drilling hole into patient's head and injecting viruses

Main Category: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Article Date: 24 Aug 2003 - 0:00 PDT

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Nathan Klein allowed doctors to drill a hole in his skull and inject more than 3 billion viruses directly into his brain to combat Parkinson's disease. He was the first man to undergo this experimental procedure.

Just 48 hours after his dramatic brain treatment, Klein, 55, sat calmly among top medical researchers at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Asked later why he was so willing to become a true human guinea pig, his answer was disarmingly simple: 'I just felt it was the right thing to do, not just for myself but for other people that have Parkinson's.'

Like so many others afflicted with this devastating disease, Klein's body and his life had been dramatically distorted.

'Nathan was a very active man in sports and in his own life and the disease has really robbed him of the things he likes to do,' said his wife, Claire Hamilton.

Medications were no longer working for Klein and he was unwilling to choose surgery that involves inserting electrodes into his brain. But he was willing to be the first patient to try a totally different approach.

On Monday, a small hole was drilled into Klein's skull. Through a small catheter, billions of viruses carrying special genetic material were injected into the part of his brain partly responsible for Parkinson's disease.

The genetic material in the viruses produces a chemical to quiet down this part of the brain, which doctors hope will reduce his symptoms.

Klein was awake for the five-hour procedure and even gave a thumbs-up sign, the time-honored signal for a successful ending.

Hope for the Future

There are potential risks. But now, just two days later, Klein is feeling fine. His MRI was perfectly normal. He had no fever. His doctors realize that Klein has already accomplished something very special.

'And he was extraordinarily enthusiastic about the idea of participating in something that he thought - even if it did not do anything positive for him - has the potential over time to change the way we treat neurological disease,' said his doctor, Michael Kaplitt.

Klein went home from the hospital Wednesday with his wife and 15-year-old twins. And if all goes well in the next few weeks and months, doctors will try this experimental treatment on another patient.