Parkinson's Disease - Essay Example

This disease is accompanied by a depletion of nerve cells in the substantia nigra. It is a neurological condition, in which there is reduction in the dopamine levels of the brain. The outcome is a large number of problems relating to the voluntary movement in muscles. The principal symptom of Parkinson’s disease is impaired physical movement. In addition, some patients develop loss of understanding, and a poor comprehension of involved sentences; which has been ascribed to shortcomings in grammatical processing (Angwin, Chenery and Copland 239 – 240).

It is a long – term degenerative disease. Presently, there is no neuroprotective or regenerative treatment for this disease. The medical management of this disease is consequently, limited to improving the quality of life of individuals afflicted with Parkinson’s disease. Many strategies have been developed to reduce the impact of the disease and to enhance the quality of life of its patients. The recent trend has been to garner the subjective experience of persons suffering from this disease and to develop therapeutic methods that rely on the patient’s perspective (Schrag 151).

Neurosurgery provides considerable relief, in respect of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The chief techniques, employed in such interventions are deep brain stimulation, which involves the exercise of control over specific symptoms, via electronic stimulation. The transmission of anomalous signals is prevented in this technique. The instrument utilized in such stimulation has been termed as a brain pacemaker. Another important technique is thalamotomy, in which some genres of tremor are curbed by effecting a lesion on a part of the brain.

Finally, pallidotomy is a surgical procedure that reduces dyskinesias, by means of a cerebral lesion (Parkinsons disease - treatment). Several drugs are available, which have been seen to be reasonably effective in alleviating the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.