I have read that there is a laser treatment which can significantly improve mobility and walking. It is a private treatment. Where can one receive such treatment?

I am not aware of any available laser-based treatment that can be used for patients with Parkinson’s disease.

There is a form of neurosurgical laser treatment which is used in specific cases during brain tumour treatment, under MRI guidance, to enable surgery to be performed in areas of the brain that have important functions which one wishes to avoid damaging during the operation. This technique could be used in so-called lesion surgery to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. However, this is a procedure that offers no advantages over established methods such as DBS or, in certain cases of Parkinson’s disease, hfMRgFUS (high-frequency magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound).

There are also examples of using red laser light as a signal for peripheral vision on, for example, rollators or shoes, which can alleviate symptoms of ‘freezing’. These rollators are available on the Swedish market, such as the Gemino 30 Parkinson rollator | Sunrise Medical.

There are also experimental methods in which laser light is used to target various stages of disease processes thought to be linked to the development of Parkinson’s disease, but none of these can ever be applied to humans as the process involves the destruction of other parts of the brain or is only feasible on cultured nerve cells.

/Håkan Widner