Neurodegeneration

Given the aging population of the developed world, and the increasing survival rates from traditional diseases such as cancer, the numbers of patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases is increasing. Not only do these diseases inflict pain and emotional toil on their sufferers and their families, they also require years of costly health care.

Many of the neurodegenerative diseases have been considered within more traditional domains of neurology, such as movement disorders or behavioral neurology. However there is increasing recognition that this symptom–based classification doesn t correspond to underlying pathologies for which evidence of similarity is emerging.

This book draws together clinical and research information on neurodegenerative diseases, beginning with the common elements before treating each disease individually using a standard template. Uniquely diseases will be grouped by anatomical regions of degeneration which are largely but not exclusively related to symptomatic considerations. 

General chapter topics cover what can be considered normal aging vs neurodegenerative diseases, and discuss the initial indications of neurodegeneration progression of symptoms. Diagnostic guidelines include how to apply cognitive examinations, movement examinations, and lab and imaging investigations to reach a diagnosis an often very complex process in neurodegenerative disease. Also discussed are patient health care issues, and the effect on carers and families, and palliative and end– of–life care.

This book:

Presents a clinically oriented guide to the diseases caused by neurodegeneration Includes templated chapters with helpful pedagogy  Groups diseases by anatomical regions of degeneration, including common disorders such as Parkinson s disease, Alzheimer s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Motor Neuron Disease, and Multiple Sclerosis as well as less common diseases Offers expert advice from globally leading authorities on the subject

This book will be of use to neurologists, and will be of interest to neuropsychiatrists who deal with psychiatric aspects of neurological disease. It will also be relevant to neuroscientists who need to know more of the clinical aspects of the conditions they are working on.

Professor Anthony Schapira Professor of Neurological Science, Head of the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the UCL Institute of Neurology and Chairman of Clinical Neurosciences Specialties.                              

Zbigniew Wszolek MD, Professor of Neurology, Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, USA                                                          

Ted M Dawson MD PhD, Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Professor of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Scientific Director, Institute for Cell Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA                                           

Professor Nicholas Wood, Research Director of the UCL Institute of Genetics, Galton Professor of Genetics, UCL National Hospital for Neurology Neurosurgery, Institute of Neurology, London, UK