Category Archives: Parkinson’s Treatment

Research indicates new hope for Parkinsons disease sufferers Research at the University of Otago indicates remarkable success with a new approach to treating Parkinsons disease that holds out new hope for dramatically improved movement and quality of life for sufferers. Parkinsons disease causes the progressive degeneration of the dopamine-producing cells in the brain leading tosymptoms that include tremors, stiffness and rigidity, and slowness of movement. The disease cannot be cured and the best treatments so far include drugs and deep brain stimulation. Now however, using optogenetics - a method of treatment that stimulates the brain by shining blue light onto the affected area - scientists, working with animal models, are showing much improved ability to recover movements. Otago School of Medical Sciences neuroscientist, Dr Louise Parr-Brownlie, whose research has just been published in the Journal of Neuroscience, explains that the results indicate better outcomes than treatments commonly used to address symptoms caused by Parkinsons disease. The results so far achieved offer a new treatment site for deep brain stimulation that may be more effective in addressing symptoms in Parkinsons disease patients, says Dr Parr-Brownlie. If our trials are successful this will represent the first big breakthrough in the treatment of … Continue reading →

By Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter WEDNESDAY, Jan. 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- A new study -- this one involving patients with Parkinson's disease -- adds another layer of insight to the well-known "placebo effect." That's the phenomenon in which people's symptoms improve after taking an inactive substance simply because they believe the treatment will work. The small study, involving 12 people, suggests that Parkinson's patients seem to feel better -- and their brains may actually change -- if they think they're taking a costly medication. On average, patients had bigger short-term improvements in symptoms like tremor and muscle stiffness when they were told they were getting the costlier of two drugs. In reality, both "drugs" were nothing more than saline, given by injection. But the study patients were told that one drug was a new medication priced at $1,500 a dose, while the other cost just $100 -- though, the researchers assured them, the medications were expected to have similar effects. Yet, when patients' movement symptoms were evaluated in the hours after receiving the fake drugs, they showed greater improvements with the pricey placebo. What's more, MRI scans showed differences in the patients' brain activity, depending on which placebo they'd … Continue reading →

Parkinson's Disease patients secretly treated with a placebo instead of their regular medication performed better when told they were receiving a more expensive version of the "drug," researchers reported in an unprecedented study that involved real patients. The research shows that the well-documented "placebo effect" actual symptom relief brought about by a sham treatment or medication can be enhanced by adding information about cost, according to the lead author of the study. It is the first time that concept has been demonstrated using people with a real illness, in this case Parkinson's, a progressive neurological disease that has no cure, according to an expert not involved in the study. "The potentially large benefit of placebo, with or without price manipulations, is waiting to be untapped for patients with [Parkinson's Disease], as well as those with other neurologic and medical diseases," the authors wrote in a study published online in the journal Neurology. But deceiving actual patients in a research study raised ethical questions about violating the trust involved in a doctor-patient relationship. Most studies in which researchers conceal their true aims or other information from subjects are conducted with healthy volunteers. This one was subjected to a lengthy review before … Continue reading →

Parkinson's Disease patients secretly treated with a placebo instead of their regular medication performed better when told they were receiving a more expensive version of the "drug," researchers reported Wednesday in an unprecedented study that involved real patients. The research shows that the well-documented "placebo effect" -- actual symptom relief brought about by a sham treatment or medication -- can be enhanced by adding information about cost, according to the lead author of the study. It is the first time that concept has been demonstrated using people with a real illness, in this case Parkinson's, a progressive neurological disease that has no cure, according to an expert not involved in the study. "The potentially large benefit of placebo, with or without price manipulations, is waiting to be untapped for patients with [Parkinson's Disease], as well as those with other neurologic and medical diseases," the authors wrote in a study published online Wednesday in the journal Neurology. But deceiving actual patients in a research study raised ethical questions about violating the trust involved in a doctor-patient relationship. Most studies in which researchers conceal their true aims or other information from subjects are conducted with healthy volunteers. This one was subjected to … Continue reading →

Dr. James Beck Discusses FDA Approval of DUOPA for Treatment of Advanced Parkinsons On Monday, January 12, DUOPA, a gel formulation of the drug carbidopa/levodopa that is delivered directly to the small intestine through a surgically-placed ... By: parkinsonsdiseasefdn … Continue reading →

60Hz stimulation more effective than standard treatment at improving swallowing and gait issues VIDEO:Low-frequency deep brain stimulation improves difficult-to-treat Parkinson's symptoms. Here, two patients demonstrate immediate improvement in gait after 60Hz DBS treatment. view more Parkinson's disease patients treated with low-frequency deep brain stimulation show significant improvements in swallowing dysfunction and freezing of gait over typical high-frequency treatment. The study, published in Neurology on Jan 27, provides a new route for treating Parkinson's patients with these difficult-to-treat and sometimes life-threatening symptoms. "This is the first study to successfully treat swallowing dysfunction, and one of the first to treat difficulty with gait, using this unusual low-frequency 60Hz stimulation," said study author and principal investigator Tao Xie, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Chicago. "These conditions are usually difficult to manage by typical deep brain stimulation or medications. Our findings have a significant and direct clinical impact on improving quality of care and potentially reducing the morbidity and mortality in Parkinson's disease." Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is often the major treatment that alleviates symptoms of Parkinson's disease that cannot be adequately controlled by medications. The procedure, which involves the implantation of a "brain pacemaker," sends electrical impulses to … Continue reading →

Dr. James Beck Discusses FDA Approval of RYTARY for Parkinson's Disease On Thursday, January 8, RYTARY, an extended release formulation of carbidopa/levodopa, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the trea... By: parkinsonsdiseasefdn … Continue reading →

The Lewy Body Dementia Association (LBDA) closes the year underscoring the importance of early and accurate diagnosis of Lewy body dementia. Lewy body dementia (LBD), a complex, challenging, and surprisingly common brain disease affects 1.3 million Americans. It is the second most common cause of progressive dementia. However, it is the most misdiagnosed form of dementia and may be misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease because it's associated with "parkinsonism" or movement symptoms that resemble those of Parkinson's disease. LBD is not well recognized by physicians, especially primary care physicians and other general practitioners. Recognizing LBD at its earliest stage is critical not only because an early diagnosis may protect people with Lewy body dementia from treatments that can worsen their symptoms or cause severe side effects, but also because it ensures individuals receive comprehensive symptom management that could improve their quality of life. Lewy body dementia refers to two related diagnoses: Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Both PDD and DLB are considered Lewy body dementias. The difference is in the presentation of symptoms based on the "one-year rule." With DLB, cognitive (thinking) symptoms that interfere with daily living appear before or within a year of movement … Continue reading →

The prototype vestibular stimulation device (Photo: Sahlgrenska Academy) Among other things, one of the symptoms of advanced Parkinsons disease is an impaired sense of balance. Although this typically isn't very responsive to medication, Swedish scientists at the University of Gothenburg's Sahlgrenska Academy are developing an alternative treatment a wearable device that stimulates the patient's vestibular system. Parkinsons sufferers' balance problems are due to a lack of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that allows different regions of the brain to communicate with one another. In previous studies on rats, it was shown that it was possible to at least partially compensate for such a deficit, by using weak electrical "noise" to stimulate the vestibular system this is a sensory system located in the inner ear, which the brain uses to maintain its sense of balance. In the most recent study, the scientists experimented on 10 human test subjects, all of whom had Parkinsons disease. They were tested in both medicated and unmedicated states, sometimes receiving actual stimulation, while at other times receiving none the patients were unaware of which was which. As with the rats, it was found that their balance and motor skills did indeed improve when the vestibular system was stimulated. … Continue reading →

Photo: Flix Saldaa, above, initially ignored his tremors until a a doctor diagnosed him with Parkinsons. (Yolanda Gonzlez Gmez/HuffPost Voces) Part 1 DALLAS, Texas--Since Flix Saldaa immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1975, his world revolved around going up and down the high pallets, wooden structures and operating machinery in his construction work, which he performed without problems for years, probably strengthened by his years as an amateur boxer in Mexico. Over time, he became a supervisor in his company, until one day, at age 46, Saldaa began to feel his hands trembling, his legs stiffen and extreme fatigue set in. He also began to suffer frequent falls. Saldaa thought that such discomforts were normal for his work until his sudden inability to tun his head while using equipment and he Hispanics and Parkinsons The 2010 study by the University of Missouri and the American Parkinson Disease Association identified 450,000 cases of Parkinson's disease out of a data bases of 36 million Medicare beneficiaries. The researchers found that among those 65 or older, Hispanics and whites developed the Parkinsons twice as often as blacks and Asians. Parkinsons disease is a common neurodegenerative condition that causes tremor, stiffness, slowness, … Continue reading →