Degenerative conditions occur for unknown reasons and are characterized by damage to certain neuronal systems due to progressive neuronal death. Pathological changes are distributed bilaterally and symmetrically (but at an early stage, they can affect one half of the body or one limb). The disease is accompanied by a limitation of voluntary movements, the appearance of tremor, chorea, dystonia, myoclonus , tics and other abnormal movements, possibly the development of dementia and other cognitive disorders.

Causes of the disease:

The disease is caused by a change in genetic information. Due to gene mutations, the synthesis of a certain polypeptide is disrupted – the nature of the disorders is determined by the role in the metabolism of this polypeptide (enzyme deficiency, tissue destruction, thesaurismosis ). Degenerative diseases develop over many years and are resistant to therapy.

Types of degenerative diseases:

Degenerative diseases include Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington ‘s chorea , Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, motor neuron disease , and Pick’s lumbar atrophy. Degenerative diseases of the nervous system are widespread – Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed in 1 person in 1000. Moreover, neurodegenerative diseases are not characteristic only of the older age group, for example, dystonic syndromes are most often observed in the productive age.

Diagnosis and treatment of degenerative diseases:

Diagnostics is carried out using complex diagnostic equipment (laboratory of clinical neurophysiology , neuropsychological laboratory, video monitoring ). In addition, high-precision diagnostics of complex conditions and rare disorders and highly specialized outpatient treatment are carried out. The centers are multidisciplinary , they represent a number of clinical areas (neurology, neurophysiology, neurosurgery, neuropsychology, psychiatry), morphological methods (neuropathology) and methods of functional diagnostics are used .