Ronald F. Pfeiffer – författare

Parkinson’s Disease and Nonmotor Dysfunction fills a major gap in the current rapidly growing body of knowledge concerning Parkinson’s disease. Drs. Pfeiffer and Bodis-Wollner have correctly perceived that many nonmotor features of Parkinson’s disease are given insufficient attention in the medical literature. Unfortunately, they are often also given insufficient attention by the practicing neurologists who see these patients. As recently pointed out, there is clearly much more to Parkinson’s disease than depletion of the nigrostriatal dopamine system (1). Parkinson’s disease (not just m- tiple system atrophy) is a multisystem disorder, both pathologically and in its clinical manifestations. This is clearly true for the various motor system abnormalities, which are not fully corrected by dopamine replacement therapy strategies, but also for the nonmotor system abnormalities that are the subject of this volume. Although recently there has been increased awareness of the cognitive, psychiatric, and sleep disorders commonly associated with Parkinson’s disease, many of their manifestations remain under-recognized and their importance in managing patients is underestimated. Even less attention is paid to the myriad of other nonmotor disturbances that plague these patients. For example, among the autonomic disorders, although orthostatic hypotension is well recognized, it is usually attributed to dopaminergic medications rather than to effects of the underlying disease. Urologic disorders are also very familiar in these patients, but may not be properly understood or well managed.

The first edition of Parkinson’s Disease and Nonmotor Dysfunction was published in 2005 to provide a source of detailed information that could be readily accessed by the practicing physician.  The widely praised first edition described and explained these nonmotor features that had at that point received insufficient attention both in the medical and in the lay literature.  Since the publication of the first edition, awareness and knowledge of the nonmotor features of PD has dramatically expanded, calling for a new edition of this important title.  Timely, fully updated and expanded, Parkinson’s Disease and Nonmotor Dysfunction, Second Edition, offers a state-of-the-art overview of the topic from the same talented group of experienced researchers and clinicians who were the driving force behind the first edition.  Importantly, a range of additional aspects of nonmotor dysfunction in PD -- such as dermatological, vestibular, and dental dysfunction -- have been included in this second edition, which remains subdivided into five diverse domains: Behavioral abnormalities, autonomic dysfunction, sleep-related dysfunction, sensory dysfunction, and other aspects of PD such as oculomotor dysfunction, fatigue, and maxillofacial issues.  An invaluable contribution to the literature in movement disorders, this revised and expanded collection of contributions by an even larger contingent of superbly knowledgeable authors will further increase awareness of the manifold contributions that nonmotor features may make to the collective clinical picture experienced by the patient with PD.