Doctors typically utilize invasive ancillary tests such as brain MRI scans, nuclear brain imaging, electromyographies and spinal taps to diagnose Parkinson’s disease and determine whether it is the “regular” version or the “atypical” version.
Researchers in the Netherlands however, have found the answer to one simple question is a better overall indicator of which type of Parkinson’s a patient has.
Bike riding is a very popular activity in the Netherlands, so it made sense that the researchers would ask their Parkinson’s patients whether or not they still ride a bike. When this question was asked, the answers determined with spot-on accuracy whether the patient had “regular” or “atypical” Parkinson’s.
The study involved 111 Parkinson’s patients. The results showed that, of the patients with “regular” Parkinson’s disease, only two (four percent) were unable to ride a bike. But 34 (fifty-two percent) patients with “atypical” Parkinsonism could not cycle.
“Atypical” Parkinsonism is considered to afflict its patients with a higher number of symptoms, in addition to those experienced by “regular” Parkinson’s patients. According to MedPage Today, “regular” Parkinson’s is caused by loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, whereas patients with atypical disease also show degeneration in the striatum. The etiologies of atypical versus typical disease may also differ.
Explaining all of that would take a little research. Nonetheless, the differences between the two types of Parkinson’s are important for advising patients what they can expect in the future, and for recruiting accurately diagnosed patients to take part in clinical trials for important Parkinson’s disease therapies.
More details about the bicycling study are provided in a letter published in this week’s issue of medical journal The Lancet.
The bicycling question may not be as relevant in countries such as the United States, where men and women do not often cycle once they reach middle age.
However, some in the medical community point out that similar balance-related activities may provide an equally revealing and accurate look at what type of Parkinson’s a patient may have. For example, one question might ask if a person has problems putting their pants on while balancing on one foot, etc.
Medical News Today reports that the exact cause of Parkinson’s is not completely understood. However, it is known that degeneration of certain brain cells causes a reduction in dopamine, which is an essential chemical of the brain.
Much research is being performed to determine exactly what causes the degeneration of those brain cells, which is not currently known. Diagnosis of Parkinson’s should be made by a specialist familiar with the disease.
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