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Filmmaker with ALS Undergoes Successful Trial Operation
Patrick O’Brien Becomes 11th ALS Patient to Receive Ventilator-Free Lifestyle
SILVER SPRING, MD – August 29, 2006 – Patrick O’Brien, a 31-year-old award-winning filmmaker, New Jersey native and Maryland resident, recently became the 11th ALS patient to undergo a surgery to improve his breathing capacity at University Hospitals of Cleveland.
O’Brien suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, but with this novel electrical stimulation system, the hope is that he can now breathe for a longer period of time without needing a ventilator.
O’Brien is only the 11th ALS patient to receive the surgery and the hope for the freedom from a ventilator. The surgery has also proven successful on patients with spinal cord injuries with 28 patients implanted.
“The system frees spinal cord injured patients and family members from the expense, inconvenience, noise and lifestyle restrictions associated with ventilator dependence,” said Raymond P. Onders, M.D. FACS, who successfully performed the procedure on actor Christopher Reeve. “With ALS, the goal is to prevent the need for a ventilator by compensating for the death of motor neurons that deprive ALS patients of the ability to breathe.”
There is no known cure for ALS, which attacks the body’s motor neurons, or nerve cells, and proves fatal within an average of two to five years. As motor neurons are destroyed, a person with ALS loses his or her ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe.
“The early results of patients implanted show that we can give more than 24 months additional ventilator free survival, while allowing them to breathe more easily and improving their ability to talk,” Onders added.
The system, known as laparoscopic motor point diaphragm pacing, stimulates the breathing muscles through electrodes attached to an external battery pack about the size of a television remote control. The system conditions diaphragm muscles, enhancing their effectiveness and producing negative pressure within the chest. The system also ventilates the posterior lobes of the lung that are vulnerable to pneumonia in ventilator-dependent patients.
The device costs about $12,000 and is reimbursed by Medicare. In comparison, ventilators cost approximately $120,000 a year.
Prior to his surgery, O’Brien, and his supporters, raised more than $35,000 for the Patrick O’Brien Foundation, a non-profit group, through a cross-state trek from Washington Crossing, Pa. to Asbury Park, N.J. The journey was filmed on 35mm as part of a documentary O’Brien is developing about his battle with ALS titled “October 5, 1974,” (working title). O’Brien’s 75-minute film will graphically show the operation as well as the effects of ALS on a healthy young man, leading to his eventual demise.
“I underwent the surgery and made the four-day journey to make a difference in the way our government and our world sees this ugly, soul-wrenching, insidious illness,” O’Brien said. “Unless we do something, 300,000 seemingly healthy Americans living now will die from ALS.”
If the mysteries of ALS are solved, researchers will learn what is needed to know about other devastating brain diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's, which afflict over six million people. By bringing attention to this fatal diagnosis, victims, their families and their communities will benefit from a shift toward better resources, more accurate healthcare policies and improved treatment options.
To donate or help raise awareness for ALS, please logon to www.patrickobrienfoundation.org.
