Update on the management of parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a chronic disabling condition with specific histopathological findings. No cure is yet available although treatment response can be remarkable. Family physicians are often faced with problematic issues on diagnosis and therapy when managing patients with Parkinson's disease. Levodopa is still the mainstay of treatment but its long-term use can be associated with considerable side-effects. We advocate the use of dopamine agonists as de novo therapy in younger onset patients. The application of stereotactic functional surgery has great potential in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.published_or_final_versio

The impact of molecular biology on clinical neurology.

Advances in molecular biology have increased our understanding of both inherited and sporadic forms of neurological disease. In this review, the impact of these advances is discussed in relation to specific neurological conditions. These include the hereditary neuropathies and ataxias, Huntington's disease, and the muscular dystrophies, as well as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and motor neuron disease. Genetic channelopathies, such as familial hemiplegic migraine, are also described. Although knowledge in this area overall is still relatively scant, current advances in molecular biology have helped in the reclassification of some neurological disorders, thereby providing a further step towards the development of rational therapies to treat these conditions.published_or_final_versio

Unilateral carotid territory ischaemia and carotid artery atherosclerosis

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Early experience of the acute stroke unit

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Delay in presentation, admission, and diagnostic imaging among stroke patients

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Diagnostic approaches in tuberculous meningitis

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Short-latency somatosensory-evoked potential in patients with central nervous system space-occupying lesions: a study of 261 cases

INTRODUCTION: Short-latency somatosensory-evoked potential (SSEP) is an electrophysiological technique to study the dorsal column–medial lemniscal sensory system. Its application in central nervous system spaceoccupying lesions (CNS SOLs) has sparsely been published. METHODS: A total of 261 patients with CNS SOLs underwent SSEP before neurosurgeries. Anatomical locations of the lesions, histopathological diagnoses and prognosis were tried to correlate with the SSEP variables. RESULTS: The spinal SOLs, especially nerve sheath tumours, was associated with significant abnormalities in various variables including the central conduction time. Other anatomical sites and histopathologies did not correlate with the SSEP findings. Also SSEP did not reflect clinical prognosis. CONCLUSION: Short-latency somatosensory-evoked potential is probably not a sensitive test for CNS SOLs except spinal cord lesions. This is probably due to anatomy of the somatosensory pathway. The fact that SSEP has different sensitivities to various tumours may reflect that sensory neurons have heterogenous susceptibilities to different pathologies.published_or_final_versionThe 15th Medical Research Conference; Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 16 January 2010. In Hong Kong Medical Journal, 2010, v. 16 suppl 1, p. 13, abstract no. 1

Treatment of dural sinus thrombosis with low-molecular-weight heparin

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Sensory conduction parameters in assessing the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome

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Think about cryptococcal meningitis

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