Related Disorders
In addition to PSP, there are many different, but related, neuro-degenerative diseases.
Most closely related to PSP is Cortico Basal Degeneration (CBD). Indeed, some leading neurologists consider CBD and PSP to be but a single disease, with the former being a rarer variant of PSP. The PSP Association therefore 'takes in' people with CBD.
Parkinson’s Disease (PD), Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) and PSP/CBD are often grouped as Movement Disorders and sometimes referred to as parkinsonism syndromes. Idiopathic PD and atypical PD are other terms used. Although these diseases display similar clinical symptoms they are biologically and pathologically quite distinct and different, but with MSA more akin to PD than PSP, (which biologically has much in common with Alzheimer's). Probably the best known of the neuro-degenerative diseases related to PSP are Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and Motor Neurone Disease (MND). We have included on our Links page, the websites of organisations associated with diseases related to PSP.
Unfortunately, PSP is often mis-diagnosed, usually as PD, MSA, MND or AD, since in its early stages many of the symptoms of these diseases can be remarkably similar. It is often only by careful examination of patients, as the particular disease they have progresses, that neurologists can diagnose with any confidence. There are generally agreed clinical criteria for diagnosing 'possible’ and ‘definite’ PSP, but, unfortunately, in some cases definite diagnosis is only possible in the examination of brain tissue after death.
From time to time, The PSP Association hears of sufferers who have been mis-diagnosed or re-diagnosed as having Lewy Body Disease or Pick's Disease. Again, these two diseases share some similarities with PSP.
PSP is a very individual disease. It affects different people in different ways. Some PSP patients show 'classical' symptoms of the disease, others do not, thus it can be extremely difficult at the time for neurologists to make an accurate diagnosis. It is hoped that with further research into PSP and related disorders, we will eventually be able to pin point more accurately the causes of these diseases and therefore find better and quicker ways of diagnosing them accurately and of providing more effective treatments and, ultimately, a cure.
