Advanced Parkinson's disease
Advanced Parkinson's disease
Welcome to Touch Neurology Advanced Parkinson’s Disease – a website that is focused on collating and disseminating knowledge on the advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD).
PD is an incurable neurological disorder of largely unknown aetiology that occurs due to the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons and the subsequent loss of dopamine throughout the brain. The advanced stages of PD are not well defined. Patients may exhibit problems with motor function such as tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia, as well as non-motor symptoms such as cognitive decline, pain, sleep disturbances, and autonomic dysfunction. Neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety, mood changes and apathy are also common. In essence, advanced PD is associated with a worsening of symptoms and a marked deterioration in the patient’s condition.
The medical management of advanced PD is complex. Disease modifying drugs such as levodopa, which work in early stages of PD, may become ineffectual or a source of severe side effects, requiring a change in medication schedule, the addition of other drugs, or surgical intervention. As such it becomes ever more challenging to achieve a treatment regimen that successfully counteracts the symptoms of advanced PD while at the same time minimising side effects. As life expectancy increases the number of patients reaching an advanced age and more advanced stages of the disease will also increase.
This website aims to serve as a valuable resource for physicians treating patients with advanced PD, providing information, highlighting advances in the latest research, collating the views of key opinion leaders, and listing forthcoming congresses in the field. This site serves to augment knowledge in the medical community of this complex and debilitating stage of PD, and thereby help inform and guide clinical decision making.
As an information resource for the scientific community, we are always looking for ways to improve our site. If you have any suggestions for additional content, please contact mary.read@touchbriefings.com. We welcome your input.
PD is an incurable neurological disorder of largely unknown aetiology that occurs due to the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons and the subsequent loss of dopamine throughout the brain. The advanced stages of PD are not well defined. Patients may exhibit problems with motor function such as tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia, as well as non-motor symptoms such as cognitive decline, pain, sleep disturbances, and autonomic dysfunction. Neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety, mood changes and apathy are also common. In essence, advanced PD is associated with a worsening of symptoms and a marked deterioration in the patient’s condition.
The medical management of advanced PD is complex. Disease modifying drugs such as levodopa, which work in early stages of PD, may become ineffectual or a source of severe side effects, requiring a change in medication schedule, the addition of other drugs, or surgical intervention. As such it becomes ever more challenging to achieve a treatment regimen that successfully counteracts the symptoms of advanced PD while at the same time minimising side effects. As life expectancy increases the number of patients reaching an advanced age and more advanced stages of the disease will also increase.
This website aims to serve as a valuable resource for physicians treating patients with advanced PD, providing information, highlighting advances in the latest research, collating the views of key opinion leaders, and listing forthcoming congresses in the field. This site serves to augment knowledge in the medical community of this complex and debilitating stage of PD, and thereby help inform and guide clinical decision making.
As an information resource for the scientific community, we are always looking for ways to improve our site. If you have any suggestions for additional content, please contact mary.read@touchbriefings.com. We welcome your input.
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| The Touch Neurology Advanced Parkinson’s disease website has been supported by an unrestricted grant from Solvay Pharmaceuticals |
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