Parkinson's Disease is characterized by a tremor when the patient is at rest, rigidity of the muscles, the loss or control of voluntary muscle movements (akinesia), and impaired reflexes. It is a condition that evolves slowly over time and is most prevalent in patients ages 40-70.
Treatment is both by drugs (including levodopa and other dopaminergic agents) and surgery.
Drug therapy has proven highly successful; however, it cannot reverse all the symptoms of the condition even at high doses.
Surgical options include Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), which involves the implanting of a medical device called a brain pacemaker. The pacemaker sends out electrical signal to specific parts of the brain. it provides benefit to otherwise treatment-resistant forms of movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease. Texas Parkinson and Movement Disorders specializes in fine-tuning the programming of the pacemaker for patients who have undergone the neurosurgical procedure.
Parkinsonism or Atypical Parkinson's
Atypical Parkinson's includes Multiple System Atrophy,
Corticobasal Degeneration and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. They are characterized by bradykinesia, or slowness with a gradual decrease in the quality and quantity of repetitive movements. Generally, these conditions don't respond well to drug therapy like levodopa or other dopaminergic agents and have a worse prognosis for the patient that typical Parkinson's disease