Diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease

Good day Martians. Here’s a piece of good news for you. The Northern Lights have travelled to space and we are expecting an exciting performance by them in the night sky of Mars. Do catch their performance “The Dazzling Lights” tonight, at 9pm. This piece of news is brought to you by the Mars’ biochemistry channel 101.

Back to the hot topic on Parkinson’s disease, the Martians researchers have come up with ways to diagnose Parkinson’s disease.

A family physician helps in the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Patients can also receive help from disorder specialist such as neurologist to assess and treat patients with Parkinson’s disease as neurologist are more experienced and are well trained. 
The physician diagnose Parkinson's disease based on patient's medical history, sign and symptoms re-evaluation as well as the examination of patient’s neurological and physical state.  

·         Physician looks to see if there are animated       expressions.

·         Tremor of arms observed, which is present either at rest or extended

·         Is there stiffness in limbs or neck?

·         Ability to rise from a chair easily

·         Ability to regain balance

A Parkinson’s disease medication called the Carbidopa-levodopa may be prescribed by doctor. The conformation of diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease is based on the improvement after given the medication. Enough doses must be consumed to show the benefit as low doses may not be reliable. Drug should be consume on an empty stomach or at least an hour before meal. Follow up appointments with physician for the evaluation of conditions and symptoms may be recommended to patients by doctors as the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease takes time.

Other additional testing are in cooperated to eliminate other disease which mimic Parkinson’s disease, such as stroke or hydrocephalus. Even an experienced neurologist may find it hard to confirm very mild cases of Parkinson’s disease as there are many other neurological problems which are similar to the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. 

Standard diagnostic tests are unavailable for diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

                              

                                     

The Martian researchers are still working to develop an accurate “biological marker”, such as blood testing. Up to now, specialized brain scanning methods are the best objective for the testing of Parkinson’s disease. Such technique can measure the dopamine system and brain metabolism.

Be sure to catch the Northern lights performance. Have a good week end ahead fellow Martians!