scholarly journals Correlation of visual area with tremor improvement after MRgFUS thalamotomy in Parkinson’s disease

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Yongqin Xiong ◽  
Dongshan Han ◽  
Jianfeng He ◽  
Rui Zong ◽  
Xiangbing Bian ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVE MRI-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) thalamotomy is a novel and minimally invasive alternative for medication-refractory tremor in Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, the impact of MRgFUS thalamotomy on spontaneous neuronal activity in PD remains unclear. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of MRgFUS thalamotomy on local fluctuations in neuronal activity as measured by the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) in patients with PD. METHODS Participants with PD undergoing MRgFUS thalamotomy were recruited. Tremor scores were assessed before and 3 and 12 months after treatment using the Clinical Rating Scale for Tremor. MRI data were collected before and 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 12 months after thalamotomy. The fALFF was calculated. A whole-brain voxel-wise paired t-test was used to identify significant changes in fALFF at 12 months after treatment compared to baseline. Then fALFF in the regions with significant differences were extracted from fALFF maps of patients for further one-way repeated-measures ANOVA to investigate its dynamic alterations. The association between fALFF changes induced by thalamotomy and tremor improvement were evaluated using the nonparametric Spearman rank test. RESULTS Nine participants with PD (mean age ± SD 64.7 ± 6.1 years, 8 males) were evaluated. Voxel-based analysis showed that fALFF in the left occipital cortex (Brodmann area 17 [BA17]) significantly decreased at 12 months after thalamotomy compared to baseline (voxel p < 0.001, cluster p < 0.05 family-wise error [FWE] corrected). At baseline, fALFF in the left occipital BA17 in patients was elevated compared with that in 9 age- and gender-matched healthy subjects (p < 0.05). Longitudinal analysis displayed the dynamic changes of fALFF in this region (F (5,40) = 3.61, p = 0.009). There was a significant positive correlation between the falling trend in fALFF in the left occipital BA17 and hand tremor improvement after treatment over 3 time points (Spearman’s rho = 0.44, p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS The present study investigated the impact of MRgFUS ventral intermediate nucleus thalamotomy on spontaneous neural activity in medication-refractory tremor-dominant PD. The visual area is, for the first time, reported as relevant to tremor improvement in PD after MRgFUS thalamotomy, suggesting a distant effect of MRgFUS thalamotomy and the involvement of specific visuomotor networks in tremor control in PD.

2021 ◽  
pp. 154596832110231
Author(s):  
Kishoree Sangarapillai ◽  
Benjamin M. Norman ◽  
Quincy J. Almeida

Background. Exercise is increasingly becoming recognized as an important adjunct to medications in the clinical management of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Boxing and sensory exercise have shown immediate benefits, but whether they continue beyond program completion is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effects of boxing and sensory training on motor symptoms of PD, and whether these benefits remain upon completion of the intervention. Methods. In this 20-week double-blinded randomized controlled trial, 40 participants with idiopathic PD were randomized into 2 treatment groups, (n = 20) boxing or (n = 20) sensory exercise. Participants completed 10 weeks of intervention. Motor symptoms were assessed at (week 0, 10, and 20) using the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS-III). Data were analyzed using SPSS, and repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted. Results. A significant interaction effect between groups and time were observed F(1, 39) = 4.566, P = .036, where the sensory group improved in comparison to the boxing group. Post hoc analysis revealed that in comparison to boxing, the effects of exercise did not wear off at washout (week 20) P < .006. Conclusion. Future rehabilitation research should incorporate similar measures to explore whether effects of exercise wear off post intervention.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob D. Jones ◽  
Charles Jacobson ◽  
Martina Murphy ◽  
Catherine Price ◽  
Michael S. Okun ◽  
...  

Objective. Health comorbidities, particularly cardiovascular risk factors, are well known to pose risks for cognitive decline in older adults. To date, little attention has focused on the impact of these comorbidities on Parkinson’s disease (PD). This study examined the prevalence and contribution of comorbidities on cognitive status in PD patients, above and beyond the effects of disease severity.Methods. A cross sectional design was used, including neuropsychological data on 341 PD patients without severe cognitive decline. Comorbidity data were collected via medical chart review. Data were analyzed using a series of multiple hierarchical regressions, controlling for PD-related disease variables.Results. Overall sample characteristics are 69% male, disease duration 9.7 years, Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale 26.4, and age 64.7 years. Hypercholesterolemia (41.6%), hypertension (38.1%), and hypotension (30.2%) were the most reported comorbidities. The presence of hypertension significantly contributed to domains of executive function and verbal memory. The cooccurrence of orthostatic hypotension moderated the relationship between hypertension and executive function.Conclusions. This study on a large cohort of PD patients provides evidence for a detrimental influence of health comorbidities, particularly hypertension, on cognitive domains that have traditionally been conceptualized as being frontally and/or temporally mediated.


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 58-67
Author(s):  
Anastasiia Shkodina ◽  
Kateryna Tarianyk ◽  
Dmytro Boiko

The article summarizes the arguments and counter-arguments within the scientific discussion on the impact of sleep disorders on the development of cognitive decline in patients with Parkinson's disease. The main purpose of the study is to study the possibility of predicting the development of cognitive decline by assessing the severity of sleep disorders and their differences in the presence of cognitive impairment. Systematization of literature sources and approaches to solving the problem showed that sleep disorders develop in the early stages of Parkinson's disease and are often accompanied by cognitive impairment. Cognitive decline is manifested throughout Parkinson's disease and ranges from moderate in the early stages to dementia in the late stages. The relevance of the study of the relationship between sleep disorders and cognitive functions lies in the possibility of further improving the prediction of the development of cognitive decline in order to effectively correct it. Treatment of sleep disorders can be accompanied by improved memory and even morphological changes in the brain. Therefore, the question arises about the possibility of correcting cognitive decline by influencing sleep disorders. The methodology of the study included assessment of the overall status of patients on a unified scale of Parkinson's disease, Montreal cognitive rating scale and sleep scale in Parkinson's disease. The duration of the study was 8 months. Patients with Parkinson's disease were selected as the study. The article presents the results of a survey of patients who show that patients with Parkinson's disease and cognitive decline showed a predominance of motor disorders, sleep disorders and the overall score on the sleep scale in Parkinson's disease. In the presence of cognitive decline more pronounced disorders of motor functions in everyday life, which can lead to sleep disorders and its quality. The study empirically confirms and theoretically proves that the assessment of sleep disorders can be used to predict the risk of developing cognitive impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease. The results of this study may be useful for improving the early diagnosis and prevention of cognitive impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease, which, in turn, leads to improved quality of treatment of these patients. Such changes can directly affect the choice of therapeutic tactics and improve the quality of life of patients with Parkinson's disease. The question of the features of various sleep disorders and their prognostic value in relation to cognitive decline in patients with various forms of Parkinson's disease remains open.


Author(s):  
Khoi Ly ◽  
Aimee Cloutier ◽  
James Yang

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is difficult to detect before the onset of symptoms; further, PD symptoms share characteristics with symptoms of other diseases, making diagnosis of PD a challenging task. Without proper diagnosis and treatment, PD symptoms including tremor, bradykinesia, and cognitive problems deteriorate quickly into patients’ late life. Among them, the most distinguishable manifestations of PD are rest and postural tremor. Tremor is defined as an involuntary shaking or quivering movement of the hands or feet. Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) scales are the most common rating scales that quantify the severity of PD. Due to the lack of consistency in these diagnostic tests, researchers are looking for devices for quantification and detection that can provide more objective PD motor assessments. Additionally, since there is currently no cure for PD, temporary PD symptom suppression is an active research area for improving patients’ quality of life. In this survey, the current state of research on Parkinson’s disease hand tremor quantification, detection, and suppression is discussed, especially focusing on electromechanical devices. The future direction of research on these devices is also considered.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Olga Khazen ◽  
Marisa DiMarzio ◽  
Kelsey Platanitis ◽  
Heather C. Grimaudo ◽  
Maria Hancu ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVEDeep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is known to reduce motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). The effects of DBS on various nonmotor symptoms often differ from patient to patient. The factors that determine whether or not a patient will respond to treatment have not been elucidated. Here, the authors evaluated sex differences in pain relief after DBS for PD.METHODSThe authors prospectively evaluated 20 patients preoperatively and postoperatively after bilateral STN DBS with the validated numeric rating scale (NRS), Revised Oswestry Disability Index for low-back pain (RODI), and King’s Parkinson’s Disease Pain Scale (KPDPS) and assessed the impact of sex as a biological variable.RESULTSThe cohort consisted of 6 female and 14 male patients with a mean duration of 11.8 ± 2.0 months since DBS surgery. Females were significantly older (p = 0.02). Covariate analysis, however, showed no effect of age, stimulation settings, or other confounding variables. KPDPS total scores statistically significantly improved only among males (p < 0.001). Males improved more than females in musculoskeletal and chronic subsets of the KPDPS (p = 0.03 and p = 0.01, respectively). RODI scores significantly improved in males but not in females (p = 0.03 and p = 0.30, respectively). Regarding the NRS score, the improvements seen in both sexes in NRS were not significant.CONCLUSIONSAlthough it is well recognized that pain complaints in PD are different between men and women, this study is unique in that it examines the sex-specific DBS effects on this symptom. Considering sex as a biological variable may have important implications for DBS pain outcome studies moving forward.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-19
Author(s):  
Bartłomiej Czechowicz ◽  
Joanna Siuda ◽  
Magdalena Bednar ◽  
Iwona Nowakowska ◽  
Monika Rudzińska-Bar

Introduction: Postural instability in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the major factors contributing to an increasing number of falls and fall related complications. Diagnosis of balance disorder is based on assessment of postural control by the biomechanical assessment of the musculoskeletal system, coordinating speed and precision of movements. The condition for the performance of precise and smooth movement is coordination of motor activity and sensory signals fl owing to the motor system. Study aim: The aim of the study is to assess the impact of non-motor symptoms (depression and cognitive impairment) and the impact of the severity of motor symptoms on the process of course of movement planning and control in Parkinson’s disease. Material and methods: The study involved 40 patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease, diagnosed according to the criteria adopted by the United Kingdom Parkinson’s Disease Society Brain Bank (UKPDSBB), with stage II or III severity of symptoms of the disease according to the Hoehn-Yahr sclae. All the patients underwent physical examination with an evaluation using the UPDRS (Unifi ed Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale) and screening clinical trials were performed, evaluating cognitive functions (Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA) and depressive disorders (Beck Depression Inventory, BDI). Evaluation of mobility, stability and motor control was done using the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), the Tinetti test, the Up and Go test (TUG) and the Dynamic Gait Index (DGI). Results: There was a signifi cant correlation between the level of severity of movement disorders (according to UPRDS ON part III) and the parameters defi ning motor skills in the DGI (R= -0.49, p<0.001), the TUG test evaluating mobility (R=0.4, p<0.01), and static and dynamic balance disorder using BBS (R=-0.44, p<0.004). The level of cognitive functioning had signifi cant impact on the mobility and stability of patients, and the occurrence of depressive disorder did not affect the deterioration of basic postural reactions in the group of patients with PD. Cite this article as: Czechowicz B., Siuda J., Bednar M., Nowakowska I., Rudzińska-Bar M. Assessment of the correlation between gait and balance disorders, and the severity of motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease, depression and cognitive impairment. Med Rehabil 2016; 20(2): 13-19.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra A. Szwedo ◽  
Camilla Christina Pedersen ◽  
Anastasia Ushakova ◽  
Lars Forsgren ◽  
Ole-Bjørn Tysnes ◽  
...  

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of SNCA polymorphisms originally identified as risk factors for Parkinson's disease (PD) on the clinical presentation and progression of the disease in a large cohort of population-based patients with incident PD.Methods: Four hundred thirty-three patients and 417 controls from three longitudinal cohorts were included in the study. Disease progression was recorded annually for up to 9 years using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) or Mini-Mental State Examination. Genotypes for five variants within the SNCA locus (rs2870004, rs356182, rs5019538, rs356219, and rs763443) were determined. We studied the association between each variant and disease progression using linear mixed-effects regression models.Results: The clinical profile of the patients with PD at the point of diagnosis was highly uniform between genotype groups. The rs356219-GG genotype was associated with a higher UPDRS II score than A-allele carriers (β = 1.52; 95% confidence interval 0.10–2.95; p = 0.036), but no differences were observed in the rate of progression of the UPDRS II scores. rs356219-GG was also associated with a faster annual change in Mini-Mental State Examination score compared with A-carriers (β = 0.03; 95% confidence interval 0.00–0.06; p = 0.043).Conclusions: We show that the known PD-risk variant rs356219 has a minor effect on modifying disease progression, whereas no differences were associated with rs2870004, rs356182, rs5019538, and rs763443. These findings suggest that SNCA variants associated with PD risk may not be major driving factors to the clinical heterogeneity observed for PD.


2020 ◽  
Vol 78 (8) ◽  
pp. 473-480
Author(s):  
Josiane LOPES ◽  
Hayslenne Andressa Gonçalves de Oliveira ARAÚJO ◽  
Suhaila Mahmoud SMAILI

ABSTRACT Background: The instruments that measure the impact of fatigue on physical, cognitive and psychosocial aspects has yet to be validated in Brazilian population with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The aim of this study was to cross-culturally adapt and assess the psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS-PD/BR). Methods: Ninety PD individuals were recruited. The adaptation of the MFIS-PD was performed by translation and back translation methodology. Psychometric analysis was applied in order to perform the administration of the socio-clinical questionnaire, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS Part I-IV), Hoehn-Yahr disability scale (HY), hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), fatigue severity scale (FSS), Parkinson Fatigue Scale (PFS-16), and MFIS-PD/BR with retest of the MFIS-PD/BR after 7 days. Results: The adaptation phase kept the same items of original MFIS-PD. The Cronbach’s alpha for the MFIS-PD/BR was 0.878 when all responses items were scored. The test-retest intraclass correlation coefficients was above 0.80 (p<0.01) for the MFIS-PD/BR score, which was moderately correlated with the HADS, GDS, MDS-UPDRS score total and non-motor experiences of daily living, FSS and PFS-16. It was revealed the MFIS-PD/BR>29 points as cut-off point to indicate fatigued subjects with accuracy of 0.835 (p<0.001). Conclusions: The MFIS-PD/BR is valid and reproducible to use in assessing the fatigue symptom in Brazilian PD subjects.


2013 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cláudia Débora Silberman ◽  
Cláudia Soares Rodrigues ◽  
Eliasz Engelhardt ◽  
Jerson Laks

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the survival rate in a cohort of Parkinson's disease patients with and without depression. METHODS: A total of 53 Parkinson's disease subjects were followed up from 2003-2008 and 21 were diagnosed as depressed. Mean time of follow up was 3.8 (SD 95% = 1.5) years for all the sample and there was no significant difference in mean time of follow up between depressed and nondepressed Parkinson's disease patients. Survival curves rates were fitted using the Kaplan-Meier method. In order to compare survival probabilities according to the selected covariables the Log-Rank test was used. Multivariate analysis with Cox regression was performed aiming at estimating the effect of predictive covariables on the survival. RESULTS: The cumulative global survival of this sample was 83% with nine deaths at the end of the study - five in the depressed and four in the nondepressed group, and 55.6% died in the first year of observation, and none died at the fourth and fifth year of follow up. CONCLUSION: Our finding point toward incremental death risk in depressed Parkinson's disease patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hana Brozova ◽  
Isabelle Barnaure ◽  
Evzen Ruzicka ◽  
Jan Stochl ◽  
Ron Alterman ◽  
...  

The aim was to compare the short and long-term effects of subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) on gait dysfunction and other cardinal symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Two groups of patients were studied. The first group (short-term DBS, n = 8) included patients recently implanted with STN DBS (mean time since DBS 15.8 months, mean age 58.8 years, PD duration 13 years); the second group (long-term DBS, n = 10) included patients with at least 5 years of DBS therapy (mean time since DBS 67.6 months, mean age 61.7 years, PD duration 17.1 years). Both groups were examined using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and Gait and Balance scale (GABS) during four stimulation/medication states (ON/OFF; OFF/OFF; OFF/ON; ON/ON). Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA with time since implantation (years) between groups and medication or DBS effect (ON, OFF) within groups. In the short-term DBS group, stimulation improved all UPDRS subscores similar to dopaminergic medications. In particular, average gait improvement was over 40% (p = 0.01), as measured by the UPDRS item 29 and GABS II. In the long-term DBS group, stimulation consistently improved all clinical subscores with the exception of gait and postural instability. In these patients, the effect of levodopa on gait was partially preserved. Short-term improvement of gait abnormalities appears to significantly decline after 5 years of STN DBS in PD patients, while effectiveness for other symptoms remains stable. Progressive non-dopaminergic (non-DBS responsive) mechanisms or deleterious effects of high frequency STN stimulation on gait function may play a role.


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