History of Parkinson's disease
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The history of Parkinson's disease expands from 1817, when British apothecary James Parkinson published An Essay on the Shaking Palsy, to modern times. Before Parkinson's descriptions, others had already described features of the disease that would bear his name, while the 20th century greatly improved knowledge of the disease and its treatments.[1] PD was then known as paralysis agitans (shaking palsy in English). The term "Parkinson's disease" was coined in 1865 by William Sanders and later popularized by French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot.[2]
Several early sources describe symptoms resembling those of PD.[3] An Egyptian papyrus from the 12th century B.C. mentions a king drooling with age and the Bible contains a number of references to tremor.[2][3] An Ayurvedic medical treatise from the 10th century B.C. describes a disease that evolves with tremor, lack of movement, drooling and other symptoms of PD. Moreover, this disease was treated with remedies derived from the mucuna family, which is rich in L-DOPA.[3] Galen wrote about a disease that almost certainly was PD, describing tremors that occur only at rest, postural changes and paralysis.[3][4]
After Galen there are no known references unambiguously related to PD until the 17th century.[3] In this and the following century several authors wrote about elements of the disease, preceding the description by Parkinson. Franciscus Sylvius, like Galen, distinguished tremor at rest from other tremors, while Johannes Baptiste Sagar and Hieronymus David Gaubius described festination, a term for the characteristic gait of PD.[3][4][5] John Hunter provided a thorough description of the disease, which may have given Parkinson the idea of collecting and describing patients with "paralysis agitans".[3][6] Finally, Auguste François Chomel in his pathology treatise, which was contemporary to Parkinson's essay, included several descriptions of abnormal movements and rigidity matching those seen in PD.[3]
19th century
In 1817, James Parkinson published his essay reporting six cases of what he called paralysis agitans.[2] An Essay on the Shaking Palsy described the characteristic resting tremor, abnormal posture and gait, paralysis and diminished muscle strength, and the way that the disease progresses over time.[2][9] He also acknowledged the contributions of many of the previously mentioned authors to the understanding of PD.[2] Although the article was later considered the seminal work on the disease, it received little attention over the forty years that followed.[9] Furthermore, the term paralysis agitans was at times applied to any condition with a loss of motor activity accompanied by seizures. Indeed, the term 'paralysis' alone included both motor and sensory deficits.[10] Noting this, William Sanders proposed in 1865 that the term Parkinsons Disease be used for the onset of symptoms in older people; it had been variously designated paralysis agitans festinia, - senilis or parkinsonii.[11]
Neurologists who made further additions to the knowledge of the disease include Trousseau, Gowers, Kinnier Wilson and Erb, and most notably Charcot, whose studies between 1868 and 1881 were a landmark in the understanding of the disease.[2] Among other advances he made the distinction between rigidity, weakness and bradykinesia.[2] He also championed the renaming of the disease in honor of Parkinson.[2]