The clinical rating scales used by those physicians trying to diagnosis and treat patients with PD are blunt to say the least. Not only are these appointments tiring and inefficient for you but for the physicians as well...surely this ideal for anyone.

The vast majority of PD patients aren't even seen by a Movement Disorders Specialist as evidenced by pharmaceutical company records that indicate that over 60% of PD patients take sinemet as their first PD drug (which is far less likely to occur if someone is diagnosed/treated by a MDS). Non specialists tend to probe less and offer the quick "fix" of sinemet...which may not be optimal for long-term treatment options. Seeing a MDS is likely one of the most important steps you can take and one of the most important messages for those grappling with potential diagnosis.

Our inability to properly diagnose and accurately monitor disease progression remains a major challenge not only in clinical care but in our ability to develop new drugs.

Discovering and developing biomarkers might be one of the most important thing we can do to transform our treatment options for patients. This has been a major push at MJFF since our early days (over $25 million spent on biomarker discovery and a new significant initiative -- launching very soon -- a $40 million observational study to verify PD markers of progression)...you can learn more about biomarkers including listening to a podcast from Dr. Ken Marek at www.michaeljfox.org/PPMI

Debi