Diagnostic procedures during the course of Parkinson's Disease

In Parkinson's Disease (PD), the diagnosis relies on clinical assessment of the PD complex which consists of the motor syndrome together with a number of non-motor symptoms. Technical and paraclinical tools can assist in finding the diagnosis by assessing and quantifying correlates of the pathological processes and by ruling out alternative diagnoses. To date, the methods for diagnosis and especially tracking disease progression are still suboptimal for patient management and clinical research. There are no validated biomarkers available in PD which might be used as a reliable read-out in clinical trials. This review summarizes the status quo of diagnostic techniques available for the follow-up of PD patients during the disease course. (C) 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.