Media Contact: Michelle Pipia-Stiles
516-570-4406
mpipiastil@nshs.edu

MANHASSET, NY -- Since Robbie Lettieri was nine years old, he was never able to live a normal childhood due to the severity of his Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes uncontrollable physical and verbal tics. Each tic episode lasted about two hours and it overtook not only his life, but the life of his family.

Frustrated that medications to control symptoms never worked, Robbie and his parents went to neurosurgeon Alon Mogilner, MD and neurologist Michael Pourfar, MD at The Movement Disorders Center at North Shore University Hospital (NSUH) in Manhasset, NY. The Lettieri family wanted to see if Robbie might be a candidate for deep brain stimulation surgery (DBS), commonly used to treat Parkinson’s Disease patients, that involves the surgical implantation of electrodes deep in the brain. After a thorough internal hospital committee review of Robbie’s case, physicians decided unanimously to proceed with the surgery. Robbie had a six-hour-long surgery on January 31, 2011.

Five months later, Robbie has had a dramatic reduction in his tics and has been nearly tic-free for weeks at a time. At a recent news conference Robbie talked about how his life has changed since the surgery, saying, “I can do everything that a normal 17-year-old takes for granted. I began driving and was even given a curfew now that I am allowed to go out with my friends. And after years of never being able to be left alone at the house, now I can. As for the future, I plan to go to college in the hope of eventually becoming a doctor.”

To see a video about this story, go to: www.northshorelij.com/NSLIJ/Media+Portal#/1233806062050

To learn more about the Movement Disorders Center at North Shore University Hospital, go to:
http://www.northshorelij.com/NSLIJ/Movement+Disorders+Institute or call 516-570-4477.