A clinical study on the low frequency stimulation to improve the freezing of gait for patients of Parkinson’s disease after deep brain stimulation

Background. Treatment of freezing of gait (FOG) is always challenging because of its unpredictable nature and multifactorial physiopathology. Intestinal levodopa infusion has been proposed in recent years as a valuable option for its improvement. FOG in Parkinson’s disease (PD) can appear after deep brain stimulation in patients who never had gait symptoms. Objective. To study the effects of intestinal levodopa/carbidopa infusion in unresponsive-FOG that appears in PD patients treated with subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation. Methods. We retrospectively collected and analyzed demographic, clinical, and therapeutic data from five PD patients treated with subthalamic nucleus stimulation who developed unresponsive-FOG and received intestinal levodopa/carbidopa infusion as an alternative therapy. FOG was measured based on scores in item 14 of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale before and after intestinal levodopa infusion. Results. Administration of intestinal levodopa caused improvement of FOG in the “ON” state in four patients (80%) by 2 or more points in item 14 of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale. The improvement was maintained for at least 12 months. Conclusions. Intestinal levodopa infusion may be a valuable therapeutic option for unresponsive-FOG developed after subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation.

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Adaptive deep brain stimulation as advanced Parkinson’s disease treatment (ADAPT study): protocol for a pseudo-randomised clinical study

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029652 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. e029652 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Dan Piña-Fuentes ◽

Martijn Beudel ◽

Simon Little ◽

Peter Brown ◽

D L Marinus Oterdoom ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Deep Brain Stimulation ◽

Clinical Study ◽

Side Effects ◽

Brain Stimulation ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Motor Symptoms ◽

Internal Globus Pallidus ◽

Deep Brain

IntroductionAdaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS), based on the detection of increased beta oscillations in the subthalamic nucleus (STN), has been assessed in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) during the immediate postoperative setting. In these studies, aDBS was shown to be at least as effective as conventional DBS (cDBS), while stimulation time and side effects were reduced. However, the effect of aDBS on motor symptoms and stimulation-induced side effects during the chronically implanted phase (after the stun effect of DBS placement has disappeared) has not yet been determined.Methods and analysisThis protocol describes a single-centre clinical study in which aDBS will be tested in 12 patients with PD undergoing battery replacement, with electrodes implanted in the STN, and as a proof of concept in the internal globus pallidus. Patients included will be allocated in a pseudo-randomised fashion to a three-condition (no stimulation/cDBS/ aDBS), cross-over design. A battery of tests will be conducted and recorded during each condition, which aim to measure the severity of motor symptoms and side effects. These tests include a tablet-based tapping test, a subscale of the Movement Disorder Society-unified Parkinson’s disease rating scale (subMDS-UPDRS), the Speech Intelligibility Test (SIT) and a tablet-based version of the Stroop test. SubMDS-UPDRS and SIT recordings will be blindly assessed by independent raters. Data will be analysed using a linear mixed-effects model.Ethics and disseminationThis protocol was approved by the Ethical Committee of the University Medical Centre Groningen, where the study will be carried out. Data management and compliance to research policies and standards of our centre, including data privacy, storage and veracity, will be controlled by an independent monitor. All the scientific findings derived from this protocol are aimed to be made public through publication of articles in international journals.Trial registration numberNTR 5456; Pre-results.

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