Parkinson's Disease in the Era of Personalised Medicine: One Size Does Not Fit All.

The concept of personalised medicine in Parkinson's disease has arrived where the implications of findings made in research are certain to have an increasing impact upon clinical practice. Disease heterogeneity in Parkinson's disease has been well described and lends itself to the construct of personalised medicine where it is hypothesised that a greater understanding of genetic and pathophysiological contributions may underpin the sub-groups described. This in turn has driven the development of potentially individualised disease-modifying therapies where, for example, we are beginning to see treatments that target patients with Parkinson's disease with specific genetic mutations. Furthermore, clinicians are increasingly recognising the need to tailor their management approach to patients depending on their age of presentation, acknowledging differential side-effect profiles and responses especially when considering the use of device-assisted technologies such as infusion or surgery. Clearly, individualising the treatment of both motor and non-motor symptoms will remain imperative but, in the future, personalised medicine may provide clearer insights into various aspects of a patient's symptomatology, disease course and thus the best therapeutic approaches.

Aortitis causing rapid growth of a mycotic aortic aneurysm.

Mycotic infrarenal aortic aneurysms are rare and often masquerade as other abdominal pathology. We present a case where serial imaging made the diagnosis and provided an insight into the pathophysiology of mycotic aneurysm. A 71-year-old man presents with abdominal pain, rigours and dysuria. Computed tomography reveals an irregular, thickened ectatic abdominal aorta, but cholescintigraphy suggests acalculous cholecystitis. Deterioration prompts repeat radiographical assessment, which demonstrates an increase in the size of the aorta over 10 days. The patient was treated emergently with an open aortic ligation, debridement and extra-anatomical bypass. Infections account for up to 2% of abdominal aortic aneurysms. The rate of growth of mycotic aneurysms is sparsely discussed in the literature and to our knowledge, there are no reports with serial single-modality imaging. The most significant finding was rapid expansion in aneurysm size. While mycotic aneurysm requires urgent treatment, diagnosis can be delayed and difficult.