Parkinson’s disease is caused by a degenerative neurological deterioration of the brain. The affected area of the brain is the midbrain and substantia nigra. The most common symptoms are mild tremors at rest, slowness of movement or unsteadiness and difficulty in turning while walking.
Parkinson’s disease: what it is
Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative and progressive neurological deterioration of the brain, the ultimate cause of which is unknown. The brain involvement is mainly centered in an area of the brain stem called the midbrain, specifically in the substantia nigra. Neurons in this part of the brain produce dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter essential for movements throughout the body, especially automatic movements. In addition to the involvement of the substantia nigra, the so-called basal ganglia and, later, other brain areas are also affected.
Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease
The symptomatology of this disease begins in several ways:
– mild resting tremor in some limbs
– slowness of movement
– gait instability
– difficulty in turning while walking
– olfactory and constipation problems
– depression
Causes of Parkinson’s disease
In spite of the many scientific studies on this disease, we do not know the exact cause. Genetic causes, which occur in some familial Parkinson’s cases, chemical or toxic environmental causes have been suggested. It has been seen in recent years that the disease is much broader than previously thought and the involvement of the nervous system is much more extensive.
Diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease
The diagnosis of the disease must be made by an expert in Neurology. First of all, a clinical neurological examination should be performed, since the symptoms of tremor and slowness of movement or limb stiffness may correspond to other non-parkinsonian pathologies. Likewise, tests such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neurophysiology of tremor or Dat-Scan should be performed to evaluate the cerebral dopaminergic system, as well as blood tests.
Treatment for Parkinson’s disease
Currently there are very effective medical treatments to improve the symptomatology. The crown jewel in terms of medical treatment is Levo-Dopa, which is transformed into Dopamine when it reaches the patient’s brain and reverses the symptoms. Dopaminergic drugs and MAO inhibitors are also recommended. Also recommended are drugs that can be prescribed in polytherapy with retard modality for greater efficacy or with transdermal patches, in some cases. Treatments with infusion pumps and intragastric treatments are also prescribed.
Patients who do not respond to medication or who present disabling side effects can be treated by neurosurgical techniques of stimulation or lesion of selective neuronal centers of the so-called cerebral striatum system. Neuronal transplants that began more than 30 years ago have not yielded the expected results, in addition to the significant side effects that they entail, which has led to the decision not to continue with this therapeutic line.
Newly investigated drugs are in the line of neuroprotection to slow the progression of the disease.