Cerebrovascular Compensation of Orthostatic Hypotension.

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Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by slow degeneration of specific neurons in the enteric, peripheral, and central nervous system. Analysis of lesions in PD by Braak et al. showed that the disease progresses in six stages in a caudorostral direction, starting in caudal regions of the brain stem, such as the dorsal motor nuclei of the glossopharyngeal and vagus nerves and the anterior olfactory nucleus, and spreading to practically the whole cortex. Based on these pathological findings and the clinical presentation of the disease, the definition of PD as only a motor disease is believed to be clearly inadequate. Dysautonomias are one of the most important nonmotor complications of PD, and orthostatic hypotension (OH) is quite a common complaint, occurring in around 40% of PD patients