The Parkinson's Disease Non-Motor Group
Third Annual Meeting, 2008

Summary of the Meeting Report:

Introduction
The Parkinson’s Disease Non-Motor Group (PDNMG) held its third annual meeting and conference at the Royal Society of Medicine, London, England, 8 March 2008. It was attended by 150 healthcare professionals and offered presentations by a dazzling array of internationally-renowned Parkinson’s Disease specialists.

Presentations
PDNMG Chairman, K Ray Chaudhuri, opened the meeting and briefly discussed the prevalence of non-motor symptoms (NMS). Professor Chaudhuri congratulated the Parkinson’s Disease community on the establishment of the Non-Motor Symptom Scale in 2007, and introduced AHV Shapira to the conference participants to chair the morning’s presentations.

The first address was given by E Tolosa on the pre-clinical phase of Parkinson’s Disease (PD).  Professor Schapira then delivered a talk on when to start treatment. The late morning comprised of talks by D Burn and DJ Brooks on the management of dementia in Parkinson’s and the imaging of dementia and depression, respectively.

The afternoon session began with a presentation by P Barone on the management of hallucinations and psychosis. Following on, C Clarke offered an appraisal of drug therapy for motor and non-motor symptoms.

F Stocchi continued the meeting’s talks, looking at the NMS management of respiratory dysfunction and sleep problems.

Following a short break, the afternoon continued with elegant speeches from R Brown on the management of depression and apathy, and J Johnson on speech and swallowing difficulties.  Professor P Odin then took to the stage for a topic that is the least often broached and the most forgotten symptom in the NMS spectrum – sexual dysfunction.

The day came to a successful conclusion when G Macphee took to the stage to present ‘Gambling, impulsive and compulsive behaviour’, followed by M Visser, discussing ‘Quality of life determinants in PD’.

Conclusions
In what Professor Ray Chaudhuri described as a ‘unique, challenging, world-class, educational and instructive’ conference, the Third PDNMG annual meeting was a resounding success – in part thanks to the speakers, the delegates, the assistants and the sponsors.

The valuable questions which followed many of the presentations made a significant contribution to the proceedings and ensured that lively discussion continued at the breaks between sessions.