Parkinson's Disease Research Paper

There are two specific sites inside the brain have been most commonly targeted for deep-brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease are the subthalamic nucleus and the internal segment of the globus pallidus (Okun 2012). Both are nuclei in the basal ganglia, where a majority of degenerative change in Parkinson's disease occurs (Okun 2012). There are many adverse effects from having deep brain stimulators implanted; the two that stand out are infection and intracranial hemorrhage. These are a major problem as they can be the reason why deep brain stimulators are removed. While deep brain stimulators can be very helpful, the safeness and outcome are not set in stone and one should be careful considering it for

Affecting an estimated 4 million people worldwide (NIH), Parkinson’s is one of the less common nervous system disorders. Despite its rarity, Parkinson’s is largely researched because there is no cure and few effective treatments. It also has a big impact on quality of life for those afflicted. This disease usually shows up after age 40 and occurs when the brain cells that are responsible for motor skills die. Symptoms include tremors, inability to move, and impaired cognitive function, all of which worsen over time. Because this is a condition that affects the brain, if an effective treatment can be established, treatments for other more common conditions such as Alzheimer’s may soon follow. This makes it a critical topic for today’s doctors and scientists.

Simuni, T., & Hurting, H. (2008). Levodopa: a pharmacologic miracle four decades later. In Factor, S.A. & Weiner, W.J. (Eds.), Parkinson’s Disease: Diagnosis and Clinical Management. New York, NY: Demos Medical Publishing.

However, medications and surgeries can be used to slow down the progress of the illness. There are different levels of drug therapies to treat the illness by relieving motor and non-motor symptoms. The most common, effective drug prescribed to patients is levodopa, which is a natural chemical that passes through the blood-brain barrier and turns into dopamine (“Parkinson’s Disease and Parkinson’s Dementia”). Other drugs, such as dopamine agonists, are also used to due with the lost of nerve cells in the brain. Instead of converting into dopamine, such medicine resemble the function of neurons, and thus, helping the communication between the brain and muscles. When medication is not sufficient and no longer effective, surgeries can also be performed to improve patients’ condition. The most common surgical procedure used is Deep Brain Stimulation, where a wire to connected from the electrode implanted at the brain to a pacemaker device implanted near the chest to send controlled electrical pulse to the brain, and help to reduce motor symptoms of the

What is Parkinson’s disease? Parkinson’s is a progressive condition by a loss of never cells in the brain known as neurodegeneration. The cause of neuronal loss in Parkinson’s is still unknown. However, the symptoms can still be explained by the loss of cells that contain neurotransmitter called dopamine. Dopamine is a type of chemical that nerve cells release to communicate with other nerve cells. It is just not responsible for doing that, dopamine has many other functions it must do including important roles in behavior, voluntary movement, motivation, sleep, mood, attention, working memory, and learning. So, in Parkinson’s the neurons that produce dopamine slowly start dying. When dopamine levels get, lower this will cause an imbalance with the other neurotransmitters and will result with confusing both motor and non-motor symptoms which will get worse overtime. (Sethi 2002) Parkinson’s is a really known disease as Alzheimer’s it is said that there is an estimated number of up to 1.5 million Americans suffering from the disorder at any given time. (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2015)

Over 70% of patients experience momentous improvements in motor control and function and 72-85% of patients with essential tremor experience symptom improvement ("Deep Brain Stimulation," 2016). After 12-month follow-up, according to the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), 45% of patients saw improvement in activities of daily living without medication and dopamine supplementation was discontinued in 50% of patients (Benabid, 2003). Both of these outcomes were sustained over a period of 5 years (Benabid, 2003). In this same study, patients saw immediate symptom improvement when DBS stimulation was turned on, even after a 90% return of symptoms when the stimulation was switched off during a two-hour period (Benabid, 2003). In a comparison trial between DBS and Best Medical Therapy, patients who received DBS demonstrated improved working memory ability at baseline and reported a better quality of life in 7 of 8 Parkinson Disease Questionnaire subscales (Weaver,

In the United States, around 1% of persons who are older than 60 years are diagnosed with Parkinson disease. This percentage is estimated to double by 2030 (Lamotte, Rafferty, Prodoehl, Kohrt, & Comella, 2015). The signs of Parkinson disease include rigidity, tremor, bradykinesia, and postural instability, along with other motor symptoms that could affect a person’s quality of life and an engaging in exercise include difficulty with motor planning and task performance. There is a need for effective alternative approaches to treat symptoms in Parkinson's disease along with medications and surgical interventions. Currently, several studies revealed that physical therapy intervention approaches increase physical functioning in Parkinson patients, such as improve gait, balance and mobility, fatigue, neurophysiological measures, quality of life, depression, cardiorespiratory function, and motor control measures. Additionally, physical therapy program could help the patient to participate in an exercise program to prevent deterioration related to progressive Parkinson disease (Gisbert, & Schenkman, 2015; Lamotte, Rafferty, Prodoehl, Kohrt, & Comella,

This paper examines the symptoms, the causes and the treatment options for the Parkinson 's disease.

Parkinson’s disease has a major impact on the quality of life of the patient. As the disease progresses, the symptoms will eventually inhibit patients from performing typical daily activities such as walking, writing, and swallowing. With such an effect on daily life, it is important for those who have Parkinson’s disease to manage their symptoms effectively. The symptoms of Parkinson’s disease can be managed using medication such as Levodopa, physical therapy, or even deep brain stimulation. These treatments are very beneficial, but rely on the correct diagnosis. There currently is not a definitive cause of Parkinson’s disease, only speculation as to what causes the disease. Since there is no definitive cause, there is no truly conclusive test to lead to an irrefutable diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. This indicates that the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease is reliant on the knowledge of the physician

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative debilitating movement disease which gets worse over time (Medscape, 2015). After much research and study no known cause has yet been determined and experts have hypothesized that it is a mix of inherited and environmental factors (Medscape, 2015). However, regardless of the unspecific cause, it is characterized by a significant loss in dopamine transportation to the basal ganglia which manifests itself in the three following physiologic signs: resting tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia (slow and reduced movement) (Mahan, Escott-Stump & Raymond, 2012). In North America PD is one of the most prevalent neurological disorders affecting relatively 1% of persons older than 65 years of age and within 5 years 66% of patients are disabled and by 10 years 80% are disabled (Mahan et al., 2012). PD increases in incidence with age, is not partial to socioeconomic status, is more common in whites than in Asian or Blacks and is predominately seen between the ages of 40 and 70 (Mahan et al., 2012).

The National Parkinson's Foundation estimates that each PD patient pays $2500 a year on medicines alone. When accounting for Social Security and nursing home payments, Parkinson's Disease costs over $5.6 billion annually to the nation (PD Web, 1998). Despite the high occurrence of Parkinson's, it is still not always recognized as a significant medical problem. The symptoms are often ignored in the elderly because they are thought to be part of the natural process of aging (PD Web, 1998). Symptoms include tremors in hands, arms, legs, jaw, and face; slowness of movement, or bradykinesia, and difficulties in balance and coordination. As the chronic disease progresses, PD patients may have difficulty with simple tasks, such as walking and talking (PD Web, 1998). Much of the oversight of PD in medical research, and of other neurodegnerative diseases associated with elderly populations, like Alzheimers, could be a reflection of a dismissive attitude towards the aging process in the medical community and American culture.

Parkinson’s disease has been known about since ancient times. In AD 175, the physician Galen described it as “shaking palsy” in Western medical literature. It wasn’t until 1817 that a London doctor, named James Parkinson, wrote a detailed medical essay on this disease. This essay established Parkinson’s disease as a recognized medical condition. He based the essay off of six cases he had observed previously and hoped that it would encourage others to study the disease. No such research was performed until finally, sixty years after Parkinson’s essay was published, a French neurologist named Jean Charcot studied the disease and was the first to truly recognize the importance of Parkinson’s work. As a result, he named the disease after him. Much has been learned about the disease since then; however, much of it still remains a mystery. Researchers have learned that the symptoms for this disease are progressive, degenerative, and tend to occur more in older individuals. It has been found that a dopamine deficiency of the brain is the root of the matter; although, why this initially occurs is less clear. The Parkinson’s Disease Foundation was created in 1957 to assist those who are suffering and promote and fund further research. Since the 1960’s research has only progressed more and more rapidly. Even though there still is no known cure, the symptoms can now be effectively controlled and reduced in severity. Moreover, many other foundations assisting the cause have been

Management of the patient with Parkinson’s syndrome is directed towards controlling the symptoms with physical therapy and drug therapy. The most beneficial physical therapy programs incorporate massage, heat, exercise, and gait retraining. Speech therapy has been used with swallowing issues, as well as difficulty with speech with variable results. Drug therapy relieves many of the symptoms of the disease. Early in the course of disease, dopamine receptor agonist pramipexole(mirapex) or ropinirole (reqip) are used to maximize the intrinsic dopamine. The corner stone of therapy is the use of L-dopa (l-dihydroxyphenylalanine). L-dopa can cross the blood-brain barrier and is converted to dopamine in the basal ganglia, thereby supplementing levels

It’s constantly increasing rate of spread and prevalence continues to extend over society. This therefore calls for the need for more comprehensive and clearer approaches both preventive and curative, in curbing the severity of the disease. It is important to therefore understand the disease in terms of epidemiology, ages, transmission, genetics and populations affected. This research will therefore delve into highlighting the normal functions of organs and further detail the weaknesses in the tissues structures that make the tissues vulnerable to the disease. The research will also broaden our knowledge on the cellular and chemical changes to the primary and secondary systems and organs affected by Parkinson disease. By including diagnostic methods and criteria, this research will demonstrate scientific understanding of the psychosocial effects of the disease on other organs. Lastly, it shall seek to explain medical interventions that can help alleviate the problem, severity and prognosis for recovery. Both beneficial and adverse effects of all medical interventions shall also be discussed (Weiner et al,

Parkinson disease (PD) and related disorders (PRD) are conditions that influence elderly individuals with most extreme pervasiveness and occurrence rates inside of the age group of 75–85 years. Presence of several other co morbidities associated can eventually affect on the independence and also the life quality (Margarita et al, 2010). Parkinsonism is also a very common disease condition in the elderly population, especially the elderly with associated dementia (Friedman et al, 2004). Parkinsonism is neurologic progressive disorder which is induced by dopamine generating neurons loss in the substantia nigra of the brain (Schapira et al, 2010). The reduced level of dopamine produces a wide range of motor symptoms like the resting tremor, slow movement of the limbs, muscle rigidity and mask like expressions on the face also known as hypomimia (Cotton and Hesters, 2012). Parkinsonism is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative condition (Nolden, , Tartavoulle & Porche, 2014). In addition to these characteristic motor symptoms it will also be accompanied by cognitive problems, sleep disorders, gastrointestinal problems and also mood disorders (Lindahl and MacMahon, 2012). A qualified Nurse can help such a resident/ patient to manage their illness by making certain changes in the prescription whenever necessary, by monitoring their condition and also by bringing issues to light about Parkinsonism and its care.