Healing the Brain

Convinced that drug therapies based on dopamine replacement would never fully relieve the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, Dr. Curt Freed instead cut to the core of the matter--quite literally--and explored ways to replace damaged neurological systems caused by the disease. Healing the Brain meticulously chronicles his development and testing of a controversial surgical method, in which microscopic "noodles" of fetal brain tissue were implanted in the brains of suffering patients.

Fueled by major funding from the National Institutes of Health, Freed conducted the first double-blind fetal cell transplant study--a project involving 40 patients and spanning an unexpected five years (1994-1999). He hoped to show that such transplants would help the brain heal by repairing critical pathways that appear damaged in Parkinson's patients.

To some degree, he succeeded. Throughout this vivid account, Freed and coauthor Simon LeVay carefully outline the history of Parkinson's, treatment successes and failures, and all the players (patients, politicians, and fellow researchers) in Freed's fight against this progressively degenerative disease. While most of the text reads easily, the surgical accounts will challenge queasy stomachs; every action and reaction (by patient, doctor, and equipment) is recorded here. Most compelling, however, is Freed's insight into the disease itself and his confidence that science eventually will provide a cure. --Liane Emory Thomas