Week 20 - Parkinsons Disease Flashcards
What are some protective factors in Parkinson’s disease?
Smoking
Caffeine
Physical activity
What are some risk factors of Parkinson’s disease?
Family history
Previous head injury
What is multiple systems atrophy?
a rare condition where the neurones of various systems in the brain degenerate, including the basal ganglia.
• The degeneration of the basal ganglia leads to a Parkinson’s presentation.
• Degeneration in other areas leads to autonomic dysfunction (causing postural hypotension, constipation, abnormal sweating and sexual dysfunction) and cerebellar dysfunction (causing ataxia).
What is Lewy body dementia?
a type of dementia associated with features of Parkinsonism. It causes a progressive cognitive decline. There are associated symptoms of visual hallucinations, delusions, REM sleep disorders and fluctuating consciousness.
What are Lewy bodies?
Protein deposits inside neurones
Patient loses their memory and has difficulty learning new information. What does this suggest?
Lewy body dementia
What is progressive supranuclear palsy?
a condition that causes both dementia and problems with movement.
• The word ‘supranuclear’ refers to the parts of the brain just above the nerve cells that control eye movement.
What are the symptoms of progressive supranuclear palsy?
○ they may find it difficult to move their eyes in the direction they want to look – particularly up or down
○ their eyes may not co-ordinate with each other, which causes blurred or double vision
○ their eyelids may not open normally and may become stuck shut.
Progressive supranuclear palsy affects people of what age?
Over 60
What is corticobasal degeneration?
• A rare condition in which areas of your brain shrink and your nerve cells degenerate and die over time.
• The disease affects the area of the brain that processes information and brain structures that control movement.
• This degeneration results in growing difficulty in movement on one or both sides of your body.
what are the causes of corticobasal degeneration?
build up of tau in the brain cells
2nd most common is atypical alzheimers disease
progressive supranuclear palsy
picks disease
what are some causes of tremor?
medicines e.g. salbutamol
heavy metals
caffeine
thyroid disorder
liver or kindney failure
diabetes
stress/anxiety
parkinson
what are the features of a parkinsonian tremor?
asymmetrical
at rest
3-7Hz
improves with intentional treomr
no change with alcohol
which tremor improves with alcohol?
essential tremor
what are the features of an essential tremor?
symmetrical - bilateral
6-12Hz
worse on action/posing
improves with alcohol
what type of tremor is a cerebellar tremor?
intention tremor
<5Hz
what can cause a cerebellar tremor?
cerebellar damage/infarct e.g. stroke
chronic alcohol use e.g. Korsakoffs syndrome or wernikes encephalopathy
tumor or space occupying lesion
what is a psychogenic tremor?
Can appear as any kind of tremor
Symptoms vary and may fluctuate
Tremor may increase when px pays attention to it and disappear when they are distracted
May be caused by stress and anxiety
what is a physiological tremor?
Not generally caused by neurological disease but by a reaction to
* certain drugs i.e salbutamol or sympathomimetics
* Alcohol withdrawal
* Hyperthyroidism
* Hypoglycaemia
* Hyperbilirubinemia - asterixis
Hypercapnia - asterixis
what is the triad of motor symptoms for parkinsons?
tremor
rigidity
bradykinesia
what non-motor symptoms are associated with PD?
○ Pain.
○ Fatigue.
○ Low blood pressure.
○ Restless legs.
○ Bladder and bowel problems.
○ Skin and sweating.
○ Sleep.
Eating, swallowing and saliva control.
what is bradykinesia?
Bradykinesia means slowness of movement and speed (or progressive hesitations/halts) as movements are continued.
what is rigidity?
Rigidity is when muscles become stiff or inflexible. If this happens to the muscles in your face, it’s called facial masking or a Parkinson’s mask.
how is rigidity caused?
Rigidity is caused by dysfunction of extrapyramidal pathways, most commonly the basal ganglia, but also as a result of lesions of the mesencephalon and spinal cord.
what is it called when someone has a tremor and rigidity?
cogwheel rigidity
what is dyskinesia?
involuntary, erratic, writhing movements of the face, arms, legs or trunk.
e.g. chewing, sucking, tongue protrusion