Parkinson Weekly

Oruen CNS

Parkinson Weekly is your go-to podcast for the latest insights in Parkinson’s disease. Each week, Professor Bas Bloem, Consultant Neurologist in the Department of Neurology at Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, takes you through his chosen “Article of the Week” – highlighting new research, clinical perspectives, and what it means for patients, carers, and healthcare professionals. Have a question you’d like Bas to answer on the podcast? Email us at parkinsonweekly@gmail.com – we’d love to hear from you. Stay informed, stay connected, and join us every week for clear, expert-led discussions on Parkinson’s.

  1. 2D AGO

    EP 19 - Parkinson’s disease: cognitive challenges and the practical “detours” people use to navigate them in daily life

    🎙️ We’re back with the nineteenth episode of Parkinson Weekly, hosted by Prof. Bas Bloem. In this episode, Bas shines a light on an often overlooked aspect of Parkinson’s disease: cognitive challenges and the practical “detours” people use to navigate them in daily life. He pays tribute to the late Marina Noordegraaf — artist, advocate, and person with Parkinson’s — whose pioneering work helped make these invisible thinking obstacles visible. Building on her earlier work around motor “detours” for freezing of gait, Bas explores Marina’s beautifully illustrated book Detours through the Parkinsonian Brain, which focuses on strategies to compensate for cognitive difficulties such as slowed thinking, attention problems, planning challenges, memory lapses, and executive dysfunction. Drawing on interviews with more than 450 people with Parkinson’s and over 130 care partners, the project captures real-world solutions developed by patients themselves. Bas discusses the concept of functional cognition — how cognitive skills translate into everyday performance — and why challenges often emerge not in clinic-based tests but in complex, stressful, real-life situations. He highlights the practical tools outlined in the book, including environmental adjustments, behavioural strategies, and simple communication techniques to help patients and families manage thinking obstacles more effectively. This episode offers a thoughtful and highly practical perspective for clinicians, patients, and caregivers alike, emphasising that while cognitive symptoms may not always be visible, they are common, impactful, and often manageable with the right strategies. Have a question you’d like Bas to answer in a future episode? Email us at parkinsonweekly@gmail.com – we’d love to hear from you.

    15 min
  2. JAN 29

    EP 18 - Article Of The Week: Effect on Dyskinesia of the Early Combination of Amantadine to Levodopa-Therapy in Parkinson's Disease: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study (PREMANDYSK)

    🎙️ We’re back with the eighteenth episode of Parkinson Weekly, hosted by Prof. Bas Bloem. In this episode, Bas discusses new evidence on an old drug: amantadine. He reviews the PREMANDYSK study, a large multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial conducted across 15 specialist centres in France and published in Movement Disorders, which investigated whether early use of amantadine can delay or prevent the development of levodopa-induced dyskinesias in people with Parkinson’s disease. Bas walks listeners through the study’s innovative delayed-start and washout design, explains why amantadine’s unique dopaminergic and NMDA-antagonist properties make it biologically plausible for this role, and highlights the key findings — including a 50% reduction in peak-dose dyskinesias at 18 months, lower levodopa dose escalation, and modest benefits for freezing of gait, fatigue, and quality of life, without an increase in adverse events. He also offers a balanced interpretation of what the results do — and do not — tell us about true disease modification, discusses important limitations such as follow-up duration and patient selection, and reflects on how these findings may influence clinical decision-making today. Bas closes by reappraising amantadine’s place in Parkinson’s care, particularly as an underrated, cost-effective option for the right patient, while emphasising the need for further long-term research. 👉 You can read the full article here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41316871/ Have a question you’d like Bas to answer in a future episode? Email us at parkinsonweekly@gmail.com – we’d love to hear from you.

    18 min

About

Parkinson Weekly is your go-to podcast for the latest insights in Parkinson’s disease. Each week, Professor Bas Bloem, Consultant Neurologist in the Department of Neurology at Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, takes you through his chosen “Article of the Week” – highlighting new research, clinical perspectives, and what it means for patients, carers, and healthcare professionals. Have a question you’d like Bas to answer on the podcast? Email us at parkinsonweekly@gmail.com – we’d love to hear from you. Stay informed, stay connected, and join us every week for clear, expert-led discussions on Parkinson’s.

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