PARKINSON'S DISEASE

People Affected and Costs

Parkinson's disease is important to understand because it effects a significant part of the US population around 50,000 people are diagnosed with Parkinson every year, with more than half a million Americans affected at any given time. Also an estimated 7 to 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson's disease. However Parkinson's also has a significant impact economically as well. The combined direct and indirect cost of Parkinson’s, including treatment, social security payments and lost income from inability to work, is estimated to be nearly $25 billion per year in the United States alone. Medication costs for an individual person with PD average $2,500 a year, and therapeutic surgery can cost up to $100,000 dollars per patient.

Causes and Symptoms

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the brain. This means that a part of the brain and its function are increasingly deteriorated over time. In Parkinson's this part of the brain is called the basal ganglia and its function is to control movement. The disease is both chronic, meaning it persists over a long period of time, and progressive, meaning its symptoms grow worse over time. The basal ganglia makes the neurotransmitter dopamine which controls our body's movement. Dopamine sends messages to other parts of the brain to coordinate movement. Patients who have Parkinson's Disease have a low amount of dopamine so that means the body doesn't receive the right messages it needs to move normally. Because Parkinson's is a degenerative disorder, it occurs slowly and in stages. In the first stages of Parkinson's a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. The patients speech may become soft or slurred. However over time these conditions worsen to a point where the person needs assistance with all daily activities. There is no cure for Parkinson's however scientist's have managed to make the diseases progression slower.

Research

There has also been research done on the topic of diagnosing Parkinson's disease, as sometimes diagnosis are not always clear. There are no standard tests to diagnose Parkinson’s. The best way testing for PD is specialized brain scanning techniques that can measure the dopamine level in the system and brain metabolism. Scientists are also exploring the idea that loss of cells in other areas of the brain and body contribute to Parkinson’s. For example, researchers have discovered that one sign of Parkinson’s disease (called Lewy bodies) are found in the mid-brain. This area of the brain deal with non-motor functions such as sense of smell and sleep regulation. The presence of Lewy bodies in these areas could explain why patients experience non-motor functions before any motor related function appear.

Treatments

There are currently three major treatments for Parkinson's. These are medication, surgery and therapy. Medication is the most commonly used method to treat Parkinson's and there are many types of medications that do different things. The main medication used to treat Parkinson's is levodopa and carbidopa. Levodopa alone causes nausea and vomiting once it reaches the brain however it is converted to dopamine once it reaches the brain. Parkinson's patients need this dopamine to suppress their symptoms. Carbidopa works by preventing levodopa from being broken down before it reaches the brain. This allows for a lower dose of levodopa, which causes less nausea and vomiting. This is the best way of curing Parkinson symptom. Another one of these medications are dopamine agonists. These are drugs that stimulate the parts of the rain influenced by dopamine. So the brain is tricked into thinking it is receiving the dopamine it needs. Therefore the symptoms of Parkinson die down. However dopamine agonists are not as effective as the combination of levodopa and carbidopa.

The surgical way of treating Parkinson is through deep brain simulation. This is when surgeon put electrodes into the areas on the brain affected by Parkinson's. Surgeons use using MRI and neurophysiological mapping to put them in the right place. Another device known as the impulse generator is put under the collarbone, providing electrical impulses to part of the brain that deals with motor functions.