A textbook-style description of PSP for physicians just appeared in a publication called StatPearls.  The authors are Drs. Shashank Agarwal and Rebecca Gilbert, both of New York University School of Medicine. (Full disclosure: I did med school and residency there.)  It’s well-written and scientifically sophisticated without challenging the scientific background of most neurologists.  It’s definitely not for most laypersons, and many non-neurologists will have difficulty with some of the terminology.  Maybe best of all, it’s free, and here’s a link.  You may want to forward it to your doctor(s). 

My only quibbles with the piece are: 1) In listing the various PSP subtypes, they omit the 4 least-common ones: PSP-cerebellar (which is much more common in Japan), PSP-primary lateral sclerosis, PSP-ocular motor and PSP-postural instability; 2) They give the “median survival after diagnosis” as 6 to 9 years.  That’s actually the median survival after symptom onset, which typically occurs about 3 years before diagnosis.  3) The 4 drug trials that they describe as “current” as of April 2021 (TPI-287, C2N-8E12/ABBV-8E12, BMS-986168/BIIB092, and salsalate) are all now complete — and unsuccessful.  It’s unfortunate that the publication date of January 2022 is so long after the completion of the manuscript.

As an educational piece for physicians, this article is of about the same high quality as that in UpToDate, a popular on-line medical textbook that, as you’d guess, is continually updated.  My only major complaint about it is that many of the references are outdated.  Plus, UpToDate charges physicians $579 a year. 

As for Wikipedia’s article on PSP – don’t bother. 

In 2017, I wrote my book, entitled, “A Clinician’s Guide to Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.” It was published in late 2018 and labelled as 2019. (Ain’t capitalism great?)  So while it has plenty of still-useful stuff, it’s now slightly dated, and it will cost you $76. Plus, at 173 pages, it’s a bit of a project for a busy physician who’s not a movement disorders specialist. Also, it has almost nothing on the scientific underpinnings or pathology of PSP — it’s purely practical.