How is corticobasal degeneration diagnosed

Make a list of:. Take a family member or friend along, if possible, to help you remember the information you're given. Corticobasal degeneration care at Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products.

Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. This content does not have an English version. This content does not have an Arabic version. Diagnosis A diagnosis of corticobasal degeneration is made based on your signs and symptoms. Care at Mayo Clinic Our caring team of Mayo Clinic experts can help you with your corticobasal degeneration-related health concerns Start Here.

Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic. Share on: Facebook Twitter. Show references Factor SA, et al. Corticobasal degeneration.

Accessed Oct. Riggin EA. Allscripts EPSi. Mayo Clinic. July 23, You may feel numb, overwhelmed, angry, distressed, scared or in denial. Some people are relieved that a cause for their symptoms has finally been found.

There's no right or wrong way to feel — everybody is different and copes in their own way. You can get in touch with the PSPA by calling their helpline on , or by emailing: helpline pspassociation. You may find that many people — even the doctors you meet — have not heard of CBD. The PSPA has online and printed information for patients, their families and professionals. Page last reviewed: 20 August Next review due: 20 August Brain scans If you have symptoms of CBD that suggest there's something wrong with your brain, it's likely you'll be referred for a brain scan.

Types of scan that you may have include: magnetic resonance imaging MRI scan — where a strong magnetic field and radio waves are used to produce detailed images of the inside of the brain positive emission tomography PET scan — a scan that detects the activity of the brain a DaTscan — to measure the amount of a chemical called dopamine that your brain is making These scans can be useful in ruling out other possible conditions, such as brain tumours or strokes.

Ruling out Parkinson's disease A person's symptoms and signs usually help distinguish CBD from Parkinson's disease, but sometimes tests may be used to support the diagnosis and rule out other possible conditions. Neuropsychological testing It's also likely you'll be referred to a neurologist and possibly also a psychologist for neuropsychological testing. A methyl group is simply a carbon atom with three hydrogens.

It can be attached to large molecules including DNA. Methylation is a normal way for the cell to regulate the function of DNA, thereby affecting the function of genes without actually changing the content of the genetic code like ordinary mutations do. This is exciting because certain molecules that can be developed into drugs alter DNA methylation. A detailed analysis of the genetics of CBD was published in by an international group of researchers.

The project was partly sponsored by CurePSP. It found five genetic variants to be associated with CBD in addition to the H1 haplotype in the gene for tau. These findings await confirmation by other research groups using other methods. If these gene variants are confirmed, the next step will be to figure out how those errors damage the normal function of brain cells. Those insights, in turn, will provide new ideas for drug targets. Coupled with a test to detect CBD in its earliest stages, before it actually causes any disability, such a drug treatment would amount to a CBD prevention.

Then it can be increased at weekly intervals to six tablets per day, then nine, then There is no evidence that other antiparkinson drugs help, such as the dopamine agonists pramipexole, ropinirole, rotigotine patch and they can have more side effects than levodopa.

An exception may be amantadine, an old antiparkinson drug with a complex chemical mechanism that can sometimes help the gait freezing of CBD.

The dosage of that drug should not exceed mg per day because of its possible side effects of confusion, constipation and urinary retention. The dystonic muscle spasms that sometimes occur in CBD may respond to muscle relaxant drugs such as cyclobenzaprine, baclofen and tizanidine.

A medication for seizures called levitiracetam can also help and may be better tolerated than the traditional muscle relaxants. The most common side effect of these drugs is sleepiness. The myoclonus of CBD, in the unlikely event that it is troublesome, may respond to clonazepam or levitiracetam. A different sort of drug that can be useful for people whose CBD is complicated by dystonia is botulinum toxin.

This substance is produced by certain bacteria that can contaminate food. A dilute solution can be injected into overactive muscles. The effect takes one to two weeks to start and lasts two to three months before having to be repeated. Formal physical therapy is worth a trial in CBD, especially with the goal of teaching the patient to use gait assistive devices such as a walker.

Certain exercises done in the home by oneself on a regular schedule can keep the joints limber. Exercise also has a clear psychological benefit that improves the sense of well-being of anyone with a chronic illness. For people with gait or balance problems, many useful exercises can be performed seated in a chair or lying on a mat. Using a stationary bicycle is usually feasible as long as there is help in mounting and dismounting safely.

The best strategy is to have an evaluation and treatment plan from a physical therapist or physiatrist a physician specializing in rehabilitation of chronic conditions. The same advice applies to the utility of occupational therapy in improving the apraxia and dystonia of the hand s that is so common in CBD. Not so far, but there are experimental trials for PSP, and the two diseases are very similar at the molecular level. One problem in mounting drug trials in CBD is that there are so few patients in any one place that many sites would have to be recruited and coordinated and paid in order to have a proper trial.

Another problem is that about half of the patients who have the outward corticobasal syndrome actually have corticobasal degeneration, so any benefit of a drug could be diluted by the non-CBD patients in the trial, creating a false-negative result. Furthermore, any positive result in such a trial could be explained by an effect in some of the non-CBD patients, a messy result that would not satisfy most researchers, drug companies or the FDA.

Most people with CBD encounter life-threatening complications between five and ten years after the first symptoms appear. However, some live much longer. Survival is enhanced by dedicated caregiver support, professional nursing care as needed in the more advanced stages, maintaining general health, and perhaps most important, by an optimistic and hopeful attitude of the patient and family.

CurePSP offers a variety of resources to patients and their families, other caregivers, physicians, and allied health professionals.