Background: Non-motor symptoms (NMS) in Parkinson's disease (PD) differ from those in essential tremor (ET), even before a definitive diagnosis is made. It is not clear whether patient's knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment influence their subsequent reporting of NMS.Methods: 1 year after a clinical and instrumental diagnosis, we compared the motor impairment (Movement Disorders Society (MDS)-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-III) and non-motor symptoms (NMSQuest) in PD (n531) and ET (n521) patients.Results: PD patients reported more NMS than did the ET patients (p50.002). When compared to their baseline report, at follow-up, PD patients reported less nocturia (p50.02), sadness (p50.01), insomnia (p50.02), and restless legs (p50.04) and more nausea (p50.024), unexplained pain (p50.03), weight change (p50.009), and daytime sleepiness (p50.03). When compared to their baseline report, ET patients reported less loss of interest (p50.03), anxiety (p50.006), and insomnia (p50.02). Differences in reported weight change (p,0.0001) and anxiety (p50.001) between PD and ET patients were related to pharmacological side effects or to a reduction in the ET individuals.Discussion: The reporting of NMS is influenced by subjective factors, and might vary with the patient's knowledge of the diagnosis or the effectiveness of treatment.
Background: Posterior cortical atrophy is a clinical syndrome that is characterized by the progressive loss of visuospatial integration and is associated with neurodegenerative conditions.Case Report: We describe a 60-year-old female with simultanagnosia, oculomotor apraxia, and optic ataxia for which she received an initial clinical diagnosis of posterior cortical atrophy. Three years later, she developed Balint's syndrome, Gerstmann's syndrome, left alien hand syndrome, smooth asymmetric (left) rigidity, cortical sensory loss, and spontaneous myoclonic jerks of the left arm, which suggested a final diagnosis of corticobasal syndrome.Discussion: This case report indicates that corticobasal syndrome may present with visuospatial deficits.
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