Parkinsonism - Etiology

Etiology

If Parkinson's disease has been excluded, the differential diagnosis or list of potential causes for Parkinsonism syndrome includes:

• AIDS can sometimes lead to the symptoms of secondary parkinsonism, due to commonly causing dopaminergic dysfunction. Indeed Parkinsonism can be a presenting feature of HIV infection.
• Corticobasal degeneration
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• Dementia pugilistica or "boxer's dementia" is a condition that occurs in boxers due to chronic brain trauma
• Diffuse Lewy body disease
• Drug-induced parkinsonism ("pseudoparkinsonism") due to drugs such as antipsychotics, metoclopramide, MPTP
• Encephalitis lethargica
• Multiple system atrophy
• Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome)
• Progressive supranuclear palsy
• Toxicity due to substances such as carbon monoxide, carbon disulfide, manganese, paraquat, mercury, hexane, rotenone, and toluene
• Vascular parkinsonism
• Wilson's disease is a genetic disorder in which there is an abnormal accumulation of copper. The excess copper can lead to the formation of a copper-dopamine complex, which leads to the oxidation of dopamine to aminochrome. The most common manifestations include: bradykinesia, cogwheel rigidity and a lack of balance.
• Paraneoplastic syndrome. Neurological symptoms caused by antibodies associated with various cancers
• Neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA), A.K.A. Hallervorden-Spatz disease
• Genetic
  • Rapid onset dystonia parkinsonism (DYT12)
  • Parkin mutation
  • X-linked dystonia parkinsonism (DYT3)
  • Autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism (ARJP)