Identify and describe the primary medical interventions that are used for treatment of Parkinson's disease

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The primary medical interventions for treatment of Parkinson's disease are measures intended to correct the imbalance of dopamine by improving the supply of dopamine to the brain.
• Primary medications include levodopa (precursor to dopamine), dopamine agonists, and MAO inhibitors.
Levodopa is used to compensate for diminished dopamine availability in Parkinson's disease.
Dopamine agonists bind to and activate dopamine receptors in the absence of dopamine.
MAO inhibitors act as neuroprotectors.
• Other treatments:
Neuroprotective therapies are interventions that are designed with the goal of preventing or slowing the progression of disease. This is the newest area of treatment and is controversial; examples include vitamin E and selegiline.
Surgical procedures such as deep brain stimulation, pallidotomy, and thalamotomy: Deep brain stimulation involves the implantation of a battery device that provides electrical stimulation to the brain; pallidotomy destroys the globus pallidus internus to help control tremor symptoms; thalamotomy attempts to control tremor symptoms as well by destroying particular cells in the thalamus.
The ketogenic diet is thought to be neuroprotective by changing the primary source of fuel to the brain (normally glucose) to lipids.