Clinical Diagnosis of Vascular Parkinsonism and Nondegenerative Atypical Parkinsonian Disorders

Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most common cause of parkinsonism, accounting for about 75% of all cases. Other causes of parkinsonism include multiple system atrophy (MSA), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD), and a variety of other neurodegenerative disorders in which rest tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, and other parkinsonian features are present. Since these disorders are often associated with other neurological deficits, such as dysautonomia (in MSA), vertical ophthalmoparesis (in PSP), and apraxia (in CBD), they are referred to as “parkinsonism plus syndromes.” Whereas the above disorders are degenerative in nature, there are other forms of parkinsonism, which are secondary to a variety of etiologic factors including vascular parkinsonism (VP), hemiatrophy hemiparkinsonism, and toxic and metabolic causes. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.