Parkinson Disease

Patients with Parkinson disease can suffer complications in the hospital if the individualized, highly structured care plans that manage their disease are not followed. Neurosurgeon Hooman Azmi, MD, FAANS, the coauthor (along with Fiona Gupta, MD) of "Parkinson's Disease for the Hospitalist: Managing the Complex Care of a Vulnerable Population," discussed what it takes to improve patient care for this population.

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University sought to resolve conflicting results on whether appendectomies raised a person's risk for developing Parkinson disease. Using data from more than 62 million patients, they team reported results today during the 2019 annual meeting of Digestive Disease Week.

Once-daily treatment of opicapone, added to levodopa, has been found to increase the length of ON-periods in patients with Parkinson disease, according to an abstract presented at the 2019 American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting.

A recent study employed the use of a high-throughput ultrasonication-induced amyloid fibrillation assay to amplify and detect α-synuclein aggregates from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and investigated the association between seeding activity and clinical indicators. The assay, created by the study investigators and dubbed the HANdai Amyloid Burst Inducer (HANABI), dramatically reduces the time to perform the assay from the estimated 10 days for the shaking-based assays to only several hours.

Intranasal insulin treatment may have the potential to improve motor functions and verbal fluency in patients with Parkinson disease.

According to a recent study, hypoxia associated with episodes of upper airway obstruction in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome may increase the levels of α‐synuclein in the blood and thus may contribute to the development of Parkinson disease.

Parkinson disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder found in the elderly, currently affecting an estimated 2% of individuals 60 years or older. PD is a multifactorial disease in which both environmental and genetic factors are significantly associated with disease onset. Although symptoms of the disease may present with a tremor or perhaps a speech problem, by the time the symptoms are evident, it is often too late to stop the progression of the disease.

Findings from a literature review suggest that exercise has the potential to improve non-motor symptoms of Parkinson disease.

The blood pressure medication felodipine could potentially be “repurposed” as a treatment for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson, Alzheimer, and Huntington diseases, according to findings from a recent study.

Researchers have identifed major barriers and facilitators regarding communication between parties involved along the continuum of care in Parkinson disease, specifically related to off periods of the disease.

Further complications in patients with PD are seen when they enter an akinetic (medication OFF) and mobile phases (medication ON), demonstrated in 50% of patients diagnosed within 3-5 years, and 80% of patients diagnosed within 10 years. These fluctuations in motor function present a critical point in terms of managing the disease because it requires continued adjustments in treatment, such as changing the frequency and dosage amount or parameters for deep brain stimulation.

Biomarkers of Parkinson Disease, detected by smell and analysis of sebum, could lead to a noninvasive diagnostic test for the disease.

Results from a recent study suggest that a revolutionary treatment may have the potential to slow, stop, or even reverse the progression of Parkinson disease.

A recently published study looked to evaluate the effect of a single dose of nilotinib (Tasigna) in patients with PD. While nilotinib is FDA approved for the treatment of adult patients with chronic myeloid leukemia and not PD, the drug is able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and reduce inflammation as well as lower levels of a toxic protein that prevents the brain from utilizing dopamine stored in vessels in areas of the brain that may control movement.

Researchers discovered a strong correlation between cerebral small vessel diseases and motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson disease, according to a recent cross-sectional study.

During a session at AcademyHealth National Health Policy Conference held February 4-5 in Washington, DC, healthcare stakeholders discussed 3 innovations that are changing the way we think about healthcare: social determinants of health, digital health, and data.

The man for whom the right-to-try law is named has been unable to get treatment; neuroscientists who were once skeptics are now being persuaded by new studies that have turned up fascinating links between the microbiome and the brain; public health officials are worried it could take months to contain the measles outbreak due to a lower-than-normal vaccination rate in Clark County, Washington, the epicenter of the crisis.

Using multiple drugs to treat a single condition is growing, said Paul Zarkowski, MD, a clinical assistant professor at Harborview Medical Center and psychiatrist in Seattle, Washington, at Psych Congress 2018. But how much do we know about how well they work?

Researchers from the University of Utah explain that patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were more than twice as likely to develop early-onset Parkinson disease or a related basal ganglia and cerebellum disease than peers who do not have ADHD. Among patients with more severe disease who are prescribed stimulant medications to control their ADHD, the risk was 6- to 8-fold higher.

While funders and researchers have long held that clinical trials should enroll more diverse patients to better reflect the populations in which approved drugs will eventually be used, patient populations enrolled in clinical trials remain largely homogenous.

This article compares clinical and utilization profiles of Medicare patients who are attributed to provider groups with those of patients unattributed to any provider group in accountable care organization models.

One in every 4 drugs approved by the FDA over the past 4 years was a personalized medicine, and the agency approved a record-breaking 16 personalized therapies in the past year, according to a new report from the multi-stakeholder group the Personalized Medicine Coalition.

Analysis of randomized controlled trials finds there is not enough proof that wearable biosensors actually improve patient outcomes, such as weight and blood pressure, according to a study by Cedars-Sinai investigators published in npj Digital Medicine.

In a discovery that could potentially pave the way for more targeted treatments, researchers announced that dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) has a unique genetic profile, separate from those of Alzheimer disease or Parkinson disease (PD). Researchers also found that DLB has heritability traits similar to PD.

The progressive neurodegenerative diseases amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson disease share the risk factors of increased age and male sex, but new research indicates there is also an association between a patient’s occupation and the mortality rate from these diseases.