On Monday, March 13, two programs featuring severely affected Tourette Syndrome patients who underwent deep brain stimulation surgery (DBS) will air on national television. 

At 9:00 p.m. EST an hour long program, "Medical Incredible" on Discovery Health cable channel, will feature a segment on a 50-year-old man, Steve, with lifelong TS symptoms who underwent the DBS surgery at Yale University sometime ago. In addition, on that same night at 10:00 p.m. EST an hour long program, " Miracle Workers" on ABC, will feature a segment about a 19-year-old California woman, Emily, who underwent the DBS surgery as well. TSA was not involved in the development of these segments and does not have any further information on the programs or the patients' histories.

TSA has previously stated that we view DBS as a potentially promising treatment for a very small minority of severely affected people with TS, but that this procedure should be viewed as experimental at this time. (You can read TSA's statement on DBS here.) It involves serious risks that could involve cerebral bleeding and infection. Unfortunately, in the past we have witnessed a variety of therapies heralded as breakthroughs in TS treatment that have proved ineffective in the long run. Only rigorous, methodologically sound scientific study of DBS will provide the answers we seek. To further our goal of sound scientific research, TSA has assembled a group of experts to recommend guidelines for the investigation of DBS in TS. These recommendations are expected to be published later this year. As for the stories to be featured on Discovery Health and ABC, TSA is prepared to respond if any inaccuracies are presented on the programs, and we will follow the stories closely.

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