OBJECTIVE Bradykinesia is one of the clinical hallmarks of Parkinson's disease (PD) and atypical Parkinsonian syndromes. Clinical ratings scales and technology-based assessments have been developed to measure bradykinesia. We review the different tools that exist for measurement of bradykinesia and analyze their reliability and applicability to PD and atypical Parkinsonian syndromes. METHODS ...

Although the clinical syndrome of parkinsonism (rigidity, bradykinesia, and tremor) is most often owing to idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD), it may also be associated with a variety of other underlying pathologies (Table 1) (1–3). Each of these other pathological conditions tends to have a characteristic clinical phenotype, however atypical cases are increasingly recognized (4–8). Moreover, ...

Microglial activation is a key aspect of the neuroinflammatory process in neurodegenerative disorders including idiopathic and atypical parkinsonian disorders. With positron emission tomography (PET) it has become possible to image this phenomenon in vivo and over the last years patterns of microglia activation corresponding with the known distribution of neuropathological changes in these diso...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterised by motor dysfunction (parkinsonism) and several non-motor features. Dysautonomia is a significant non-motor feature as well as a neuropsychiatric symptom. Autonomic dysfunction can occur even in the early stages of PD, often preceding the onset of the classic motor symptoms of PD. The patterns of autonomic featur...

Treatable causes of parkinsonian syndromes are rare; Whipple's disease is one of them. A patient is described who presented with a parkinsonian syndrome and abnormal vertical gaze. Measurement of eye movements showed marked slowing of upward saccades, moderate slowing of downward saccades, a full range of voluntary vertical eye movements, curved trajectories of oblique saccades, and absence of ...

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is the most common atypical parkinsonian syndrome comprising two main clinical subtypes: Richardson's syndrome (RS), characterized by prominent postural instability, supranuclear vertical gaze palsy and frontal dysfunction; and PSP-parkinsonism (PSP-P) which is characterized by an asymmetric onset, tremor and moderate initial therapeutic response to levodopa...