BBC Documentaries The Parkinson's Drug Trial: A Miracle Cure? (Part 1 of 2)

Filmed over six years, this program follows a group of volunteers with Parkinson’s as they take part in a groundbreaking medical trial testing a drug called GDNF. Forty-two patients undergo complex brain surgery and months of infusions via a port embedded into the side of their skull. Can this clinical trial give hope to the estimated 10 million affected by Parkinson’s globally? In this moving first episode, cameras follow Bristol neurosurgeon Professor Steven Gill performing surgery on all the volunteers to implant the device he has designed that enables delivery of GDNF to a deep part of the brain. The device comprises four catheters placed in the putamen (a part of the brain key in Parkinson’s) that link to a port embedded in the side of the skull through which GDNF can be infused monthly. Part 1 of 2.

• 2019
• 00:51:38
• 13-14
• Added on: 03/05/2020