ABSTRACT
There are a number of diseases that can mimic Parkinson’s disease (PD) and make diagnosis difcult at times. The diseases that are most often discussed under the term “Parkinson-plus syndromes” include progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), multiple system atrophy (MSA), corticobasal degeneration (CBD), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). However, other diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), drug-induced parkinsonism, and vascular parkinsonism, among many others, may present with clinical features similar to PD. In this chapter, we will brieŸy describe some of the more common mimickers of PD. Then we will outline clinical symptoms that are often helpful in approaching the differential diagnosis. In 2003, the Scientic Issues Committee of the Movement Disorders Society published an evaluation of the diagnostic criteria of the common neurodegenerative causes of parkinsonism (Litvan et al., 2003). We will refer extensively to these and
provide the recommended criteria for several disorders in tabular form.
