Most common evaluations of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in the clinic consist of motor assessments using some form of repetitive task. One such tool is use of a Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale or UPDRS which involves multiple different activities such as repetitive finger tapping with first finger and thumb as fast as possible. The clinician observes for any slowing or decreasing amplitude or any irregularity with freezing of the movement. Since the original description of Parkinson’s disease, the assessment of …
Category: Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement. Symptoms start gradually, sometimes starting with a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. Tremors are common, but the disorder also commonly causes stiffness or slowing of movement. In the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, your face may show little or no expression. Your arms may not swing when you walk. Your speech may become soft or slurred. Parkinson’s disease symptoms worsen as your condition progresses over time. Although …
Friday, October 19, 2018 With the high prevalence of Parkinson’s disease in the Midwest, this conference will address the need for coordination of care, clinical guidelines for assessment and management, as well as an update on the current recommendations for the care of the Parkinson’s patient. Agenda coming soon… Target Audience This conference is intended for physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech pathologists. Conference Objectives At the conclusion of this conference, the participant should …
RAD-PD is a collaborative Quality Improvement Research Project, a form of health services effectiveness research that intends to generate a huge amount of information from patients receiving deep brain stimulation surgery for Parkinson’s disease in a systematic goal driven process across multiple institutes. Collection of such a large data set will provide insights into treatment patterns and related outcomes. What we know about the use of Deep Brain simulation surgery comes from a handful of trials. Designing a trial is …
Another interesting Journal Club with discussion on some excellent articles. Below is a brief summary of the articles with a short commentary of the discussion. Submandibular Gland Needle Biopsy for the Diagnosis of Parkinson Disease Neurology. 2014 Mar 11;82(10):858-64 Background: Currently Parkinson disease has no confirmatory test and diagnosis is clinical. The characteristic change in brain has been described (presence of Lewy bodies described by Fredric Lewy in 1912) however Brain biopsy is not practical in clinical settings. Braak however …
Parkinson Disease was originally described in an essay by Dr. James Parkinson titled “An essay on Shaking Palsy” and so it was called for a few decades, the shaking palsy, before being referred to as Parkinson Disease by famous Dr. Charcot. Since original description on clinical symptoms of 6 “people” (3 clinic patients and 3 persons observed while walking on the street) there has been much added to our understanding of history and examination findings in PD and similar diseases. …
Alternative Therapies include herbal and nutritional supplements, exercise and massage techniques. A strong evidence for their benefit is lacking in general. Patients with Parkinson Disease (PD) routinely come across them and as many as 40% end up trying one of them. Here we will very briefly summarize the available scientific support for them, if any. Acupuncture, is an ancient Chinese technique based on idea of stimulating energy centers in body through needles. Although several small clinical trials reported modest benefit, …
Another interesting Journal Club with discussion on some excellent articles. Below is a brief summary of the articles with a short commentary of the discussion. Long term Safety and tolerability of Prosavin, a lentiviral vector-based gene therapy of Parkinson Disease Lancet. 2014 Jan 9. pii: S0140-6736(13)61939-X. Background: Parkinson Disease is treated by using levodopa that is taken up by the brain cells and converted into Dopamine thus correcting the deficiency. It is thought that rise and fall of blood levels …
The biggest efforts in Parkinson’s disease have been to figure out ways to slow down this condition and then down the road consider ways that will stop or even potentially reverse the progression of Parkinson’s disease. These efforts have been underway for more than 20 years starting as early as 1980s with attempt with vitamin E in high doses (DATATOP Study) along with selegiline a newly discovered agent at that point. Those efforts failed and vitamin E was found to …
