Birmingham patients join Parkinson's trial
BIRMINGHAM patients with Parkinson’s disease are to get the chance to take part in the world’s largest ever clinical trial into easing effects of the debilitating brain condition.
City medics have been awarded £1.6 million to carry out a thorough investigation on whether physiotherapy and occupational therapy has any effect on patients.
Sandwell and West Birmingham Trust, which runs City and Sandwell hospitals, is teaming up with Birmingham University’s clinical trials unit to try and make a breakthrough into the illness that has famously affected stars including Muhammad Ali and Michael J Fox.
Neurologist Professor Carl Clarke, based at City Hospital, said: “The trial will take five years to complete, as there are a number of stages to go through, including recruitment and training of staff, patient recruitment, patient observation and data analysis.
“We know already that physiotherapy and occupational therapy are thought to help patients with Parkinson’s disease in different but complementary ways, but what the trial is essential for is to investigate the true value of these therapies, and if proved to ensure they are available as a treatment for all patients with Parkinson’s disease.
“It also makes it difficult to plan services when little is known about the cost of therapy provided and the beneficial effects that can be expected.
“Similarly, it is very difficult to improve services and develop new treatments if we do not know the effectiveness of occupational therapy and physiotherapy as it is currently provided in the NHS.”
The trial will select Parkinson’s disease patients at random.
The National Services Framework for Long Term Neurological Conditions and NICE guidelines recommend that people should have access to physiotherapy and occupational therapy, but there is little research evidence to support the use of these.
Parkinson’s disease is a disorder of the central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord which controls everything a person does, and leads to sufferers gradually losing the ability to control body movements and the telltale sign of shaking hands.
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