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#  How is Parkinson's Disease Diagnosed? 

 

     

   - ###   Transcription   
    
    **Dr. Rajesh Pahwa** 00:00:05  
    The way Parkinson's disease is diagnosed is a clinical diagnosis. By which I mean that the physician usually takes a history and performs an examination. We usually don't do any tests, such as a brain scan like an MRI of the brain, unless there is a certain reason the physician feels an MRI is needed.  
      
    To make an assessment that they have features of parkinsonism, a patient has to have at least two out of these three present: tremor, slowness or bradykinesia, or rigidity. Once that is established, a physician usually assesses that there are not any other reasons or other neurological findings. In addition, the physician usually will assess that the presentation is not atypical, by which I mean that the symptoms did not begin with an atypical symptom such as falling.
    
    **Dr. Rajesh Pahwa** 00:01:09  
    Finally, we look at certain other characteristics, such as: Did the symptoms begin on one side? Did the patient have a tremor when they were just resting, which is called a resting tremor? A resting tremor starting on one side is the most common presentation for Parkinson's disease. We often assess: Have the symptoms progressed over time? We assess if they have been on medications, not only whether they have responded well to the medications, but if a patient has developed any involuntary movements due to their medications.
    
    Taking all this together, a physician will come to a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.
 
 Finding out you have Parkinson's disease (PD) can be a lengthy process. In this video, explore how a Parkinson's diagnosis is made.

 

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