Parkinson's disease is a disease typically occurring in people over 50 years old. The process of electrical impulses transferring between brain cells is disrupted. As a result, the tremor (trembling of extremities), mimicry, memory and speech disturbance occur.
Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease
At the early stages, the symptoms of Parkinson's disease are similar to manifestations of other neurological disorders, which complicates the diagnostics process. However, the disease has three main symptoms:
- Restraint movements and muscles (bradykinesis): it’s difficult to a person to perform regular movements (it’s hard to get up from the chair, wash, get dressed);
- Inflexible muscles (rigidity): muscle tone is increased in flexion and extension of extremities;
- Extremities trembling (tremor): most often occurs in fingers, but may be in other parts of the body.
The other signs of Parkinson's disease can be:
- Changed handwriting;
- Slow speech;
- Lack of facial expressions;
- Abrupt change in weight;
- Sleep disturbance;
- Unreasonable anxiety or fear.
Parkinson's Disease: Diagnostics in India
The main task of a neurologist during the examination of a patient is to determine whether Parkinsonism is primary or secondary disease.
The primary Parkinson's disease is a violation of dopamine production.The symptoms of the secondary Parkinson's disease (Parkinsonism syndrome) are similar to the primary, but are caused by other disorders. Accurate diagnostics at the early stages differentiates one pathology from another and helps to choose the optimal method of treatment.
Complex diagnostics of Parkinson's disease in Indian clinics includes:
Main methods of Parkinson's treatment in India
Medications for Parkinson's Disease treatment
This is the main method of treating the disease in India and other countries of the world. Medication treatment is prescribed at the initial stages and eventually requires adjustment. The scheme of taking medications is prescribed individually for each patient. It is aimed at reducing the Parkinson's disease symptoms, however not leading to complete recovery.
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson’s
To conduct the procedure, the patient's condition must correspond to certain medical indications. DBS is a kind of surgery of implanting two electrodes into the pathological parts of the brain that create small electrical impulses. A patient can regulate the intensity of such a neurostimulator by him/herself. The positive effect of treatment is noticeable within a few hours after the procedure.
Costs for Parkinson’s diagnostics and treatment in India compared to Israel and the USA
|
Country |
India |
USA |
|
|
Complex diagnostics of Parkinson’s disease |
400-1,500 USD |
3,000-6,000 USD |
>6,500 USD |
|
Deep Brain Stimulation surgery |
18,000-32,550 USD |
50,000-80,000 USD |
>100,000 USD |