scholarly journals P.043 Perceptual descriptors and clinical determinants of pain in Parkinson’s disease: focus on patients’ experiences

Author(s):  
A Rana ◽  
U Saeed ◽  
I Abdullah

Background: Pain is a disabling non-motor symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD), which remains underacknowledged, undertreated and often undeclared by patients in the clinical practice. Prevalence of pain ranges from 40-75% among PD patients; however, clinical determinants and self-reported perceptual experiences of pain require further research. Methods: 121 PD patients (age: 67.3±11.4) from community-based clinic were analyzed cross-sectionally. Perceptual experiences and clinical predictors of pain were assessed using structured interviews, questionnaires and neurological examinations. Results: 80 (66%) PD patients reported pain; 65 (54%) described the severity as ‘moderate/high’. Dystonic was the most frequent clinical pain 37/80 (48%), followed by neuropathic (36%), akathisia (29%) and musculoskeletal (28%). More than one type of clinical pain was assessed in 22 (28%) patients. Aching was the most common perceptual descriptor of pain (46%), followed by sharp/deep (30%), tension (18%) and dull (14%). PD localized on the right side quadrupled the odds of pain on the right (OR=4.4, 95%CI [1.1-18.2]); and pain described as ‘sharp’ predicted neuropathic pain (OR=5.6, 95%CI [1.1-29.2]). Pain prevalence also increased with progressive Hoehn-and-Yahr stage. Interestingly, only 51% of patients perceived effects of PD medications on pain symptomology. Conclusions: Perceptual descriptors of pain can provide novel approaches to classify, treat and manage PD. Longitudinal investigations with larger sample are warranted.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Ovidijus Laucius ◽  
Renata Balnytė ◽  
Kęstutis Petrikonis ◽  
Vaidas Matijošaitis ◽  
Neringa Jucevičiūtė ◽  
...  

Background. It is currently impossible to diagnose Parkinson’s disease (PD) in the premotor phase even though at the time of motor symptom onset the number of already degenerated dopaminergic substantia nigra neurons is considerable. Degeneration of the dorsal nucleus of the vagus nerve (VN) has been reported early in the disease course, and it could lead to impaired function of the VN, resulting in certain nonmotor symptoms of PD. Therefore, we raised a hypothesis that the loss of VN neurons could result in a smaller diameter of the VN among PD patients. Methods. 20 PD patients and 20 age- and gender-matched individuals without any neurodegenerative disease were enrolled in a pilot study. The diameters of the right and left VNs were measured using ultrasonography, their average was calculated, and the narrower VN diameter was noted separately. Results. No difference was found between the PD and control groups neither in the average VN diameter (mean 1.17; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.10–1.24 vs. 1.13; 1.07–1.18, mm; p=0.353) nor in the narrower VN diameter (mean 1.11; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.20 vs. 1.07; 1.02–1.13, mm; p=0.421). The narrower VN diameter and the average VN diameter were not able to distinguish between PD patients and controls (area under curve (AUC) = 0.588, 95% CI = 0.408–0.767, and p=0.344; and AUC = 0.578, 95% CI = 0.396–0.759, and p=0.402). Conclusions. To conclude, no differences were found in VN diameter between the PD and control groups. Therefore, our data do not support the hypothesis that PD could be associated with a smaller diameter of the VN.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Su ◽  
Kai Li ◽  
Chun-Mei Li ◽  
Xin-Xin Ma ◽  
Hong Zhao ◽  
...  

Objective: The striatum is unevenly impaired bilaterally in Parkinson's disease (PD). Because the striatum plays a key role in cortico-striatal circuits, we assume that lateralization affects cortico-striatal functional connectivity in PD. The present study sought to evaluate the effect of lateralization on various cortico-striatal circuits through resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).Methods: Thirty left-onset Parkinson's disease (LPD) patients, 27 right-onset Parkinson's disease (RPD) patients, and 32 normal controls with satisfactory data were recruited. Their demographic, clinical, and neuropsychological information was collected. Resting-state fMRI was performed, and functional connectivity changes of seven subdivisions of the striatum were explored in the two PD groups. In addition, the associations between altered functional connectivity and various clinical and neuropsychological characteristics were analyzed by Pearson's or Spearman's correlation.Results: Directly comparing the LPD and RPD patients demonstrated that the LPD patients had lower FC between the left dorsal rostral putamen and the left orbitofrontal cortex than the RPD patients. In addition, the LPD patients showed aberrant functional connectivity involving several striatal subdivisions in the right hemisphere. The right dorsal caudate, ventral rostral putamen, and superior ventral striatum had decreased functional connectivity with the cerebellum and parietal and occipital lobes relative to the normal control group. The comparison between RPD patients and the controls did not obtain significant difference in functional connectivity. The functional connectivity between the left dorsal rostral putamen and the left orbitofrontal cortex was associated with contralateral motor symptom severity in PD patients.Conclusions: Our findings provide new insights into the distinct characteristics of cortico-striatal circuits in LPD and RPD patients. Lateralization of motor symptoms is associated with lateralized striatal functional connectivity.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sule Tinaz ◽  
Serageldin Kamel ◽  
Sai S Aravala ◽  
Mohamed Elfil ◽  
Ahmed Bayoumi ◽  
...  

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) causes difficulty with maintaining the speed, size, and vigor of movements, especially when they are internally generated. We previously proposed that the insula is important in motivating intentional movement via its connections with the dorsomedial frontal cortex (dmFC). We demonstrated that subjects with PD can increase the right insula-dmFC functional connectivity using fMRI-based neurofeedback (NF) combined with kinesthetic motor imagery (MI). The current study is a randomized clinical trial testing whether NF-guided kinesthetic MI training can improve motor performance and increase task-based and resting-state right insula-dmFC functional connectivity in subjects with PD. Methods: We assigned nondemented subjects with mild PD (Hoehn & Yahr stage ≤ 3) to the experimental kinesthetic MI with NF (MI-NF, n=22) and active control visual imagery (VI, n=22) groups. Only the MI-NF group received NF-guided MI training (10-12 runs). The NF signal was based on the right insula-dmFC functional connectivity strength. All subjects also practiced their respective imagery tasks at home daily for 4 weeks. Post-training changes in 1) task-based and resting-state right insula-dmFC functional connectivity were the imaging outcomes, and 2) MDS-UPDRS motor exam and motor function scores were the clinical outcomes. Results: The MI-NF group did not show significant NF regulation and was not significantly different from the VI group in any of the imaging or clinical outcome measures. The MI-NF group reported subjective improvement in kinesthetic body awareness. There was significant and comparable improvement only in motor function scores in both groups. This improvement correlated with NF regulation of the right insula-dmFC functional connectivity only in the MI-NF group. Both groups showed specific training effects in whole-brain functional connectivity with distinct neural circuits supporting kinesthetic motor and visual imagery (exploratory outcome). Conclusions: The functional connectivity-based NF regulation was unsuccessful in our cohort with mild PD. However, kinesthetic MI practice by itself or in combination with other imagery techniques is a promising tool in motor rehabilitation in PD.


1999 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. E2
Author(s):  
Tetsuo Yokoyama ◽  
Yoko Imamura ◽  
Kenji Sugiyama ◽  
Shigeru Nishizawa ◽  
Naoki Yokota ◽  
...  

Object Pre- and postoperative cognitive function were evaluated in 25 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) who underwent unilateral posteroventral pallidotomy (PVP) to clarify the effects of this operation on cognitive function. Methods Cognitive function was assessed before surgery and 1 month and 3 months afterward by using a battery of neuropsychological tests consisting of orientation, digit span (forward and backward), digit learning, 5-minute memory of five words, similarities, serial sevens, animal name listing, and the kana pick-out test, as well as the Japanese version of the Mini-Mental State. Preoperative evaluation revealed that patients experienced difficulties in performing the neuropsychological tasks of reasoning and abstraction, working memory of numerals, word fluency, and concept formation compared with 36 healthy volunteers (p < 0.05). A simple regression analysis showed strong relationships in a negative fashion between preoperative (r = 0.81, p = 0.002) and 1-month (r = 0.79, p = 0.0059) and 3-month (r = 0.85, p = 0.0016) postoperative gross-total scores and Hoehn and Yahr staging. Preoperative and postoperative scores at 1 month and 3 months were analyzed by analysis of variance, but only the Fisher's post hoc test revealed the source of difference. All tasks except orientation (p = 0.0292) were unchanged in the 10 patients who underwent surgery on the right side. The scores for this task at 1 month postsurgery were significantly lower (p = 0.0203) but improved to preoperative values by 3 months. In the 15 patients who underwent surgery on the left side significant differences among tasks were revealed for serial sevens (p = 0.0471) and animal naming (p = 0.0425). The scores for these tasks were significantly lower at 1 month postoperatively (p = 0.0431 for serial sevens and p = 0.0408 for animal naming), but improved by 3 months after the operation. Conclusions The present data revealed that cognitive dysfunction in patients with PD relates to advancement of Hoehn and Yahr stage, but PVP is not associated with significant long-lasting cognitive deficits.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeong-Ho Park ◽  
Suk Yun Kang

AbstractDizziness is common in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. It is known that orthostatic hypotension (OH) is the main cause of such dizziness, but even without OH, quite a few PD patients complain of dizziness in the clinic. It can be regarded as non-specific because most of these patients have no neurological abnormalities. We hypothesized that this type of dizziness would be associated with vestibular function, although included patients did not have clinically confirmed vestibulopathy. We studied 84 patients without OH among 121 PD patients. Their clinical features and function were compared between patients with and without dizziness. Hoehn and Yahr stage (H&Y stage), the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) part III, the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE), education years, disease duration, total levodopa equivalent daily dose (LEDD), the presence of dizziness, the dizziness severity, and orthostatic hypotension were tested. Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) were used to characterize vestibular function. Ocular (oVEMPs) and cervical (cVEMPs) were recorded. oVEMPs in the right side showed significantly reduced potentials (p = 0.016) in PD patients with dizziness, but cVEMPs did not (all ps > 0.2). Bilateral absent oVEMP responses were more common in PD patients with dizziness (p = 0.022), but the frequencies of bilateral absent cVEMP responses were not different between the dizzy and non-dizzy groups (p = 0.898). Dizziness in PD patients without orthostatic hypotension may be associated with vestibular hypofunction. Our results provide evidence that can aid clinicians when making a treatment plan for patients with dizziness. i.e., strategies to enhance reduced vestibular function may be helpful, but this suggestion remains to be evaluated.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Laura P. Hughes ◽  
Marilia M.M. Pereira ◽  
Deborah A. Hammond ◽  
John B. Kwok ◽  
Glenda M. Halliday ◽  
...  

Background: Reduced activity of lysosomal glucocerebrosidase is found in brain tissue from Parkinson’s disease patients. Glucocerebrosidase is also highly expressed in peripheral blood monocytes where its activity is decreased in Parkinson’s disease patients, even in the absence of GBA mutation. Objective: To measure glucocerebrosidase activity in cryopreserved peripheral blood monocytes from 30 Parkinson’s disease patients and 30 matched controls and identify any clinical correlation with disease severity. Methods: Flow cytometry was used to measure lysosomal glucocerebrosidase activity in total, classical, intermediate, and non-classical monocytes. All participants underwent neurological examination and motor severity was assessed by the Movement Disorders Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale. Results: Glucocerebrosidase activity was significantly reduced in the total and classical monocyte populations from the Parkinson’s disease patients compared to controls. GCase activity in classical monocytes was inversely correlated to motor symptom severity. Conclusion: Significant differences in monocyte glucocerebrosidase activity can be detected in Parkinson’s disease patients using cryopreserved mononuclear cells and monocyte GCase activity correlated with motor features of disease. Being able to use cryopreserved cells will facilitate the larger multi-site trials needed to validate monocyte GCase activity as a Parkinson’s disease biomarker.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Trine HØrmann Thomsen ◽  
Susanna M. Wallerstedt ◽  
Kristian Winge ◽  
Filip Bergquist

People with Parkinson’s disease (PwP) have been suggested to be more vulnerable to negative psychological and psycho-social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our aim was to assess the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in PwP. A Danish/Swedish cohort of 67 PwP was analysed. Health-related quality of life (HRQL), depression, anxiety, apathy, sleep and motor symptom-scores were included in the analysis. Additionally, the Danish participants provided free-text descriptions of life during the pandemic. Overall, the participants reported significantly better HRQL during the COVID-19 period compared with before. Reduced social pressure may be part of the explanation. Despite worsened anxiety, night sleep improved.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 895
Author(s):  
Karolina A. Bearss ◽  
Joseph F. X. DeSouza

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that has a fast progression of motor dysfunction within the first 5 years of diagnosis, showing an annual motor rate of decline of the Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) between 5.2 and 8.9 points. We aimed to determine both motor and non-motor PD symptom progression while participating in dance classes once per week over a period of three years. Longitudinal data was assessed for a total of 32 people with PD using MDS-UPDRS scores. Daily motor rate of decline was zero (slope = 0.000146) in PD-Dancers, indicating no motor impairment, whereas the PD-Reference group showed the expected motor decline across three years (p < 0.01). Similarly, non-motor aspects of daily living, motor experiences of daily living, and motor complications showed no significant decline. A significant group (PD-Dancers and PD-Reference) by days interaction showed that PD who train once per week have less motor impairment (M = 18.75) than PD-References who do not train (M = 24.61) over time (p < 0.05). Training is effective at slowing both motor and non-motor PD symptoms over three years as shown in decreased scores of the MDS-UPDRS.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 175628642110185
Author(s):  
Susan J. Thanabalasingam ◽  
Brandan Ranjith ◽  
Robyn Jackson ◽  
Don Thiwanka Wijeratne

Background: Recent changes to the legal status of cannabis across various countries have renewed interest in exploring its use in Parkinson’s disease (PD). The use of cannabinoids for alleviation of motor symptoms has been extensively explored in pre-clinical studies. Objective: We aim to systematically review and meta-analyze literature on the use of medical cannabis or its derivatives (MC) in PD patients to determine its effect on motor function and its safety profile. Methods: We reviewed and analyzed original, full-text randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies. Primary outcomes were change in motor function and dyskinesia. Secondary outcomes included adverse events and side effects. All studies were analyzed for risk of bias. Results: Fifteen studies, including six RCTs, were analyzed. Of these, 12/15 (80%) mention concomitant treatment with antiparkinsonian medications, most commonly levodopa. Primary outcomes were most often measured using the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) among RCTs and patient self-report of symptom improvement was widely used among observational studies. Most of the observational data lacking appropriate controls had effect estimates favoring the intervention. However, the controlled studies demonstrated no significant motor symptom improvement overall. The meta-analysis of three RCTs, including a total of 83 patients, did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in UPDRS III score variation (MD −0.21, 95% CI −4.15 to 3.72; p = 0.92) with MC use. Only one study reported statistically significant improvement in dyskinesia ( p < 0.05). The intervention was generally well tolerated. All RCTs had a high risk of bias. Conclusion: Although observational studies establish subjective symptom alleviation and interest in MC among PD patients, there is insufficient evidence to support its integration into clinical practice for motor symptom treatment. This is primarily due to lack of good quality data.


Basal Ganglia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Nele Schmidt ◽  
Laura Paschen ◽  
Günther Deuschl ◽  
Karsten Witt

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