Parkinson's Disease, Your Questions Answered

This book, written in the popular Q and A format of the YQA series, will provide sufficient information for a primary care doctor to be able to understand and treat patients who are suffering from Parkinson's Disease. The outlook for people with Parkinson's Disease is better now than at any time since the 1960s thanks to new drugs. Doctors need an up-to-date handbook that, amongst other things, sets out the benefits of the new drugs and analyses the side effects.

Features

* * Popular question and answer format
* Covers both commonplace and rarer issues
* Includes useful information on websites, associations
* Sections on patients' frequently asked questions
* Analyses side effects of drug usage
* Covers both existing and new treatments
* Assesses future treatments such as gene therapy and biological therapy such as transplanting new cells into the brain.

Contents

A background knowledge of Parkinson's Disease: aetiology, epidemiology and pathology. Recognising a patient with PD - history and examination. Disorders of mood and thinking in PD. Confirming the diagnosis of PD. Drug treatment of early PD - motor symptoms. Drug treatment of PD - non-motor symptoms. Complications of PD and treatment of advanced disease. Surgical treatment of PD. Non-drug treatment of PD and social issues. Differential diagnoses of PD and their relevance for the GP. Sources of further information and support. Appendices: Ratings scales for assessment of PD. Glossary of terms. Index.