Center for Movement Disorders

At the Center for Movement Disorders at Columbia University Irving Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, we provide advanced neurosurgical treatments for patients with severe movement disorders when these conditions have resisted other forms of treatment. Our center is among the leaders in performing surgeries such as Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), endoscopic third ventriculostomy, shunt surgery, and surgical lesion.

The term movement disorders describes many kinds of abnormal movements, all of which have neurological bases. Movement disorders vary in their symptoms. For some patients, the movement may be involuntary−as it is for individuals with the repetitive movements of dystonia or the tremors of essential tremor.

In other cases, patients have some control over troublesome movements, but coordination is compromised, or speed is abnormal. For example, the bradykinesia of Parkinson's disease and shuffling gait of adult hydrocephalus are voluntary movements with abnormal speed or coordination.

Over the past several decades, movement disorders have become increasingly treatable as understanding, medication, and surgical techniques have all advanced. For many people, medications can now delay the progression or treat the symptoms of a movement disorder. For others, surgery can now provide complete relief.

Treatment at the Center for Movement Disorders

At our center, world-class neurologists and neurosurgeons confer about each patient, carefully selecting those patients for whom surgery carries the greatest potential benefit and lowest risk. Our neurosurgeons use state-of-the-art equipment to perform surgeries such as Deep Brain Stimulation for dystonia, essential tremor, and Parkinson's disease.

The same experienced team performs post-surgical follow-up and equipment calibration. Our neurosurgeons also treat adult hydrocephalus−an under-diagnosed movement disorder that is remarkable for being one of the few reversible causes of dementia.