Moving deeper into multiple movement disorders
With our recognition last year as a Center of Excellence for Parkinson’s disease care, the VCU Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center (PMDC) has rightly received lots of attention lately for the cutting-edge research we’re pursuing into that disease.
As we continue seeking ways to improve the lives of those affected by Parkinson’s disease through world-class care and research, we’re also continuing to try and improve the lives of those affected by other movement disorders and expanding the number of studies devoted to finding better ways to diagnose and treat them.
You’ll hear about some of these efforts in this newsletter, including our growing body of research into dystonia, a disorder characterized by involuntary spasms that lead to abnormal movements and postures.
One of my goals for the PMDC is to grow our portfolio of research studies across the gamut of movement disorders, including dystonia, which I’ve been researching since medical school. This disabling disorder can take away a patient’s sight, speech, limb function and independence. We need better ways to treat it, and VCU is hoping to find answers that will help us improve the quality of life for people living with dystonia, as well as insights into what causes it and better ways to diagnosis it.
With a half-dozen studies into dystonia underway here, PMDC is among a handful of medical centers nationwide pursuing that amount of research into a disorder that’s not well understood and is often misdiagnosed.
Researchers at the PMDC are also working hard to find ways to stop the progression of Huntington’s disease (HD), an incurable hereditary disorder that causes progressive difficulty in controlling movements as well as changes in cognition and personality.
Our center is participating with several other research hospitals in a trial of a gene therapy that seeks to lower the amount of the disease-causing protein that causes brain cells to die in Huntington’s patients. Our researchers are also taking part in a clinical trial of a novel drug that might help improve cognitive symptoms of that disease.
And there are many more studies underway at the PMDC. We’re actively seeking patient volunteers (and healthy controls) for our studies into Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, dystonia, Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB), and other neurological conditions as we pursue answers that can lead to better treatments, and better lives, for people living with movement disorders.
- On the cover: VCU patient Mike Hoyt is part of a group “hitting the wall” to stave off their Parkinson’s symptoms — both physical and mental. Meet him and learn about the program.
Brian D. Berman, MD, MS
PMDC Director and Movement Disorders
Division Chair and Professor, VCU Department of Neurology