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 does not 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 versus 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.

Key Features

• 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

About the Author

Contents

۱ Pathology of Brain Aging
۲ Protein Aggregation and Neurodegeneration: Tauopathies and Synucleinopathies
۳ Prion Degeneration
۴ Excitotoxicity
۵ Etiology and Pathogenesis of Parkinson Disease
۶ Parkinson Disease: Treatment Options – Surgical Terapy
۷ Multiple System Atrophy: ClinicalGeneticsand Neuropathology
۸ Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
۹ Dementia with Lewy Bodies
۱۰ Corticobasal Degeneration
۱۱ Alzheimer’s Disease
۱۲ Frontotemporal Dementia
۱۳ Prion Diseases and Other Rapidly Progressive Dementias
۱۴ Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Primary Lateral Sclerosis
۱۵ Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia
۱۶ Spinal Muscular Atrophy
۱۷ Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy (Kennedy Disease)
۱۸ Optic Neuropathies
۱۹ Peripheral Nerve Neuropathies Including Charcot–Marie–Tooth Disease
۲۰ Axonal Loss and Neurodegeneration in Multiple Sclerosis
۲۱ Huntington’s Disease and Other Choreas
۲۲ Spinocerebellar Ataxias
۲۳ Ataxia Telangiectasia
۲۴ Niemann–Pick Disease
۲۵ X-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy
۲۶ Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron AccumulationWilson Diseaseand Manganism