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I am Dr. Wszolek.
I am consultant and
professor of neurology
at the Mayo Clinic in
Jacksonville, Florida.
My talk today is
an usefulness of
genotyping for patients
suffering from
Parkinson's disease.
0:19
Before we dissect the
subject of my presentation,
I will present the COI and
funding disclosure slide.
Throughout the years my
research was sponsored through
the governmental and
private funding agencies
as well as my institution,
and private donors.
However, in regards
to this talk,
I do not have any
conflict of interest.
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Before we talk about our main
question for today's talk,
a few slides of introduction.
Parkinson's disease is a
relatively common disorder.
In United States,
there are about 1 million
people are suffering
from Parkinson's disease.
Clinically, Parkinson's
disease is characterized by
a certain combination of signs
that include bradykinesia,
slowness of movements,
rest tremor,
rigidity, muscle stiffness,
and postural
instability, falling.
In specialized movement
disorder clinics,
about 70-80% of patients
present with classic
Parkinson's disease.
These patients usually have
a late onset of a disease
65 years or older.
They have usually slow
progression of the illness.
The symptoms initially
is asymmetrical
with a dominant side
predominantly affected first.
If treated, they have a
good response to levodopa.
Now about 20-30% of cases
seen in specialized clinics
have atypical Parkinsonism.
Under this umbrella, there
are two groups of patients.
One of that they have
Parkinsonism due to known cause,
for example, normal
pressure hydrocephalus.
Other diseases like
multiple system atrophy,
which is characterized by
profound autonomic
dysfunction or
progressive supranuclear
palsy that is
characterized by falling
and other symptoms.
Now, these patients
usually tend to
have more aggressive
disease, shorter survival,
and in general, they do
not respond so well to
levodopa or other symptomatic
treatments that we offer.
Some of these
diseases are genetic,
for example, Perry syndrome,
which is a very rare
Parkinsonian disorder
of genetic nature.