A neurologist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has co-authored a paper in a leading neurology journal that provides the first best-practices consensus for treating two rare Parkinson’s-related disorders.
Rohit Dhall, M.D., a professor of neurology in the College of Medicine and director of neurodegenerative disorders at UAMS, was one of several co-authors of the paper, which was published July 1 in Frontiers in Neurology.
The peer-reviewed article provides decades’ worth of knowledge gathered from experts at 25 CurePSP Centers of Care, including UAMS, across the United States to help physicians and neurologists improve the care of patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal syndrome (CBS).
PSP, an uncommon degenerative brain disorder with no known cause or cure, causes progressive impairment of balance and walking, impaired eye movement, rigidity, speech difficulties and problems swallowing and eating, and affects between 40 and 60 people in Arkansas at any given time. It is easily mistaken for Parkinson’s disease, which has similar symptoms.
CBS, a form of atypical Parkinsonism, is less prevalent, usually affecting three to five people in the state at one time. It affects cognition and movement, often making it hard for an afflicted person to control an arm and/or leg on one side of the body.
Both disorders are considered tauopathies, which are neurodegenerative disorders characterized by damage to the brain from abnormal deposits of tau protein. They start affecting people in their mid-60s and lead to death after an average of seven years. There is no cure for either disorder.
CurePSP, an organization devoted to support, research and education for PSP and CBS, created its Centers of Care network in North America in 2017 to improve patient access to clinical expertise and develop collaborations. UAMS joined the network about three years ago.
“I think it’s our job to increase awareness and improve management of these disorders,” said Dhall, who is a former director of the National Parkinson Foundation Center of Excellence at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
“Though there’s no cure now for PSP or CBS, many physicians, including neurologists, are not familiar with the treatments for basic symptoms,” he said. “We summarize approaches to ease emotional and physical suffering, avoid complications and hopefully delay disability.”
