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should we treat Parkinsons Earlier

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tony22

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11 posts

Posted - 18 Apr 2012 06:29

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Hi All.
i recently attended a project visit at the Institute Of Neurology London.
Prof. Kailash Bhatia and his team are collecting Data to see if Treatment for Parkinsons should be started early.
As is well known Dopamine producing nerve cells gradually die off in Parkinsons sufferers.By the time Parkinsons has been diagnosed 70% of these cells have been lost. The problem seams to be that the earlier treatment may cause complicated side effects.15 new Parkinsons volunteers will be chosen to start medication straight away.15 new Parkinsons will start later.Recent trials showed that early medication showed improvement.
But the quality of life may be lowed by side effects.
A process in the brain called the plasticity manages the compensation process of helping the remaining cells work harder.
Data will be collected to find the balance for starting treatment. This will be done using a hand held sensor coil near the brain.
The visit was very useful and a splened lunch was on for us. A visit to the Lab was interesting
Tony22

turnip

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2821 posts

Posted - 18 Apr 2012 07:06

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Tony, very interesting, did they say if they were being given DAs or Levadopa?

tony22

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Posted - 18 Apr 2012 08:43

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Hi that was not de cussed.

turnip

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2821 posts

Posted - 18 Apr 2012 10:17

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cheers, very envious of your trip round the lab.