BBC ONLINE: PARKINSON'S DISEASE AND WHAT IT IS

PET+BLOGSPOT: We are celebrating World Parkinson's Day which falls on Friday, April 11 this month. As such, we hope to include some stories on the disease, how it affects people and how those who have it are living their lives.

Here's one from BBC Online to get us started:

Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's is degenerative

Parkinson's Disease is a progressive, degenerative, neurological condition for which there is currently no cure.

Sufferers find increasing difficulty in moving their arms and legs. They develop tremors and facial tics, and gradually become more and more immobile.

What is Parkinson's Disease?

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disease of the nervous system that generally affects both men and women who are more than 40 years old.

The disease develops slowly over time and is associated with trembling of the arms and legs, stiffness and rigidity of the muscles and slowness of movement.

A third of Parkinson's suffers also develop senile dementia.

Parkinson's sufferers eventually die from secondary complications such as pneumonia, urinary tract infection, pressure sores, septicemia and stroke.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms vary from patient to patient, appear slowly and in no particular order. Many years may pass before early symptoms progress to the point where they interfere with normal activities. The main symptoms of Parkinson's disease are:

• Tremor: Usually begins in one hand or arm and is more likely to occur when the part of the body affected is at rest.

  Tremor will usually decrease or disappear when the affected part is being used and often becomes more noticeable when a person with Parkinson's is anxious or excited.

• Muscular rigidity or stiffness: People may experience problems turning round, getting out of chair, turning over in bed, or making fine finger movements.

  Their posture may become stooped, and they may find it difficult to make facial expressions.

• Bradykinesia (slowness of movement): People with Parkinson's often find that initiating movements becomes more difficult or that it takes them longer to perform movements. Lack of co-ordination when making movements can also be a problem.

How common is it?

There are 120,000 in the UK with Parkinson's disease.

Each year 10,000 people are diagnosed with the disease, of which one in 20 will be under the age of 40.

What causes Parkinson's Disease?

It is thought that Parkinson's Disease is caused by a chemical imbalance in the co-ordination centre of the brain, known as the striatum.

Parkinson's patients suffer from cell death in an area of the brain called the substantia nigra, which produces the chemical dopamine.

As the cells die, less dopamine is produced and transported to the striatum, resulting in co-ordination problems.

Later in the disease, cells in other portions of the brain and nervous system also degenerate.

The reason why the loss of dopamine occurs in the brains of people with Parkinson's is currently unknown.

Most researchers believe it is likely that many factors play a role in causing Parkinson's.

Areas of research into the cause include genetics, environmental factors and viruses

What treatment is available?

Current therapy consists primarily of dopamine replacement. This is accomplished by using levodopa and other dopamine-enhancing agents.

These drugs are helpful for the majority of Parkinson's patients in both improving disability and reducing death rates.

However, levodopa therapy is associated with a number of side effects, paticularly when used in the long-term.

These include the development of abnormal excessive and involuntary movements called dyskinesias.

An alternative is surgery on the brain, either on the pallidum or the thalamus. Both have been shown to reduce symptoms in some patients.

Therapies such as physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy can also play an important role in the management of Parkinson's.

What about experimental treatments?

An experimental technique known as deep brain stimulation is also used to treat Parkinson's Disease.

In this treatment, electrodes are placed in the thalamus and a pacemaker is used to stimulate the area.

Researchers have also shown that foetal tissue can survive being transplanted into adult brain cells that have died as a result of Parkinson's disease.

New drugs are also being developed. These include: dopamine agonists, COMT inhibitors and growth factors.

Is support available?

The Parkinson's Disease Society runs a helpline staffed by specialist nurses (weekdays, 0930 - 1730). The contact number is 0808 800 0303.

This page contains basic information. If you are concerned about your health, you should consult a doctor.