BACKGROUND

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been associated with mood sequelae in a subset of patients operated on in either the subthalamic nucleus or the globus pallidus internus for the treatment of Parkinson disease.

OBJECTIVE

To compare mood and motor outcomes in those with and without a presurgical history of depression.

METHODS

Unilateral subthalamic nucleus or unilateral globus pallidus internus DBS patients followed up for a minimum of 6 months were included. All patients underwent a comprehensive outpatient psychiatric evaluation by a board-certified psychiatrist. Psychiatric diagnoses were based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition, text revision, nomenclature (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Motor and mood outcomes were compared.

RESULTS

A total of 110 patients were included. There were no significant differences in baseline variables between the 2 groups. Those with a preoperative history of depression had significantly higher Beck Depression Inventory scores than the nondepression group after DBS (8.97 ± 7.55 vs 5.92 ± 5.71; P = .04). Patients with a depression history had less improvement (11.6%) in pre/post-DBS change when Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale motor scores were compared (P = .03) after adjustment for stimulation site and baseline demographic and clinical variables. Patients with a higher levodopa equivalent dose had a worse clinical motor outcome.

CONCLUSION

Patients with a preoperative depression history had higher Beck Depression Inventory scores after DBS and significantly less (albeit small) improvement in pre/post-DBS change in Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale motor scores than patients without a history of depression.

Objective

Apathy is a common feature of Parkinson's disease (PD) that can manifest independently of depression, but little is known about its natural progression in medically-managed patients. The present study sought to characterize and compare trajectories of apathy, depression, and motor symptoms in PD over 18 months.

Method

Data from a sample of 186 PD patients (mean disease duration of 8.2 years) followed by the University of Florida Movement Disorders Center were obtained from a clinical research database. Scores on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (motor portion), Apathy Scale, and Beck Depression Inventory at three time-points (baseline, 6 months, 18 months) were analyzed in a structural equation modeling framework.

Results

A multivariate growth model controlling for age, sex, education, and disease duration identified linear worsening of both apathy (slope estimate = 0.73; p <.001) and motor symptoms (slope estimate = 1.51; p <.001), and quadratic changes in depression (slope estimate = 1.18; p = .07). All symptoms were positively correlated. Higher education was associated with lower apathy, depression, and motor severity. Advanced age was associated with greater motor and apathy severity. Female sex and longer disease duration were associated with attenuated motor worsening. Antidepressant use was associated only with depression scores.

Conclusions

These longitudinal results support the differentiation of apathy and depression in PD. Like motor progression, apathy progression may be linked at least partially to dopaminergic neurodegeneration. Empirically-supported treatments for apathy in PD are needed.

Background: Two decades ago, botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) type A was introduced to the commercial market. Subsequently, the toxin was approved by the FDA to address several neurological syndromes, involving muscle, nerve, and gland hyperactivity. These syndromes have typically been associated with abnormalities in cholinergic transmission. Despite the multiplicity of botulinal serotypes (designated as types A through G), therapeutic preparations are currently only available for BoNT types A and B. However, other BoNT serotypes are under study for possible clinical use and new clinical indications; Objective: To review the current research on botulinum neurotoxin serotypes A-G, and to analyze potential applications within basic science and clinical settings; Conclusions: The increasing understanding of botulinal neurotoxin pathophysiology, including the neurotoxin’s effects on specific neuronal populations, will help us in tailoring treatments for specific diagnoses, symptoms and patients. Scientists and clinicians should be aware of the full range of available data involving neurotoxin subtypes A-G.

Fatigue is a common and disabling nonmotor symptom seen in Parkinson's disease (PD). While deep brain stimulation surgery (DBS) improves motor symptoms, it has also been associated with non-motor side effects. To date no study has utilized standardized instruments to evaluate fatigue following DBS surgery. Our objective was to determine the prevalence of fatigue following DBS surgery in PD its impact on quality of life and explore predictive factors. We recruited 44 PD subjects. At least one year following DBS placement, we administered the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39), the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the UPDRS, and a neuropsychological battery. Fifty-eight percent of subjects had moderate to severe fatigue. Fatigue was significantly associated with quality of life, depression, and anxiety. Depression preoperatively was the only predictive factor of fatigue. Fatigue is common following DBS surgery and significantly impacts quality of life.

Background

X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism (XDP; DYT3; Lubag) is an adult-onset hereditary progressive dystonia/parkinsonism which is typically minimally responsive to pharmacological treatment.

Case Report

We report a 63- year-old man with a diagnosis of XDP who underwent bilateral globus pallidus internus deep brain stimulator (GPi-DBS) placement. His course initially began with right hand tremor and dystonia at age 57 and progressed to also include bradykinesia and rigidity. The patient tolerated the procedure without significant complications. GPi-DBS improved his right hand dystonia, but did not significantly improve his parkinsonism.

Conclusion

DBS may be a therapeutic option for select cases of XDP, but its specificindications must be carefully discussed, as the available cases have had mixed responses. Whether other targets may be more effective is not known.

Of 96 Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients at the University of Florida Movement Disorders Center, one (1%) met diagnostic criteria for binge eating disorder (BED). Eight (8.3%) exhibited subthreshold BED. Psychometric criteria classified problem gambling in 17.8%, hoarding in 8.3%, buying in 11.5%, hypersexuality in 1.0%, and mania in 1.0% of patients. More overeaters met psychometric criteria for at least one additional impulse control disorder (67% vs. 29%). No more overeaters than non-overeaters were taking a dopamine agonist (44% vs. 41%). More overeaters had a history of subthalamic DBS (44% vs. 14%). History of DBS was the only independent predictor of overeating.

Background. Nonmotor symptoms (NMS) of Parkinson's disease (PD) may be more debilitating than motor symptoms. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and corecognition of NMS among our advanced PD cohort (patients considered for deep brain stimulation (DBS)) and caregivers. Methods. NMS-Questionnaire (NMS-Q), a self-administered screening questionnaire, and NMS Assessment-Scale (NMS-S), a clinician-administered scale, were administered to PD patients and caregivers. Results. We enrolled 33 PD patients (23 males, 10 females) and caregivers. The most frequent NMS among patients using NMS-Q were gastrointestinal (87.9%), sleep (84.9%), and urinary (72.7%), while the most frequent symptoms using NMS-S were sleep (90.9%), gastrointestinal (75.8%), and mood (75.8%). Patient/caregiver scoring correlations for NMS-Q and NMS-S were 0.670 (P < 0.0001) and 0.527 (P = 0.0016), respectively. Conclusion The frequency of NMS among advanced PD patients and correlation between patients and caregivers varied with the instrument used. The overall correlation between patient and caregiver was greater with NMS-Q than NMS-S.

Conflicting research suggests that deep brain stimulation surgery, an effective treatment for medication-refractory Parkinson’s disease (PD), may lead to selective cognitive declines. We compared cognitive performance of 22 PD patients who underwent unilateral DBS to the GPi or STN to that of 19 PD controls at baseline and 12 months. We hypothesized that compared to PD controls, DBS patients would decline on tasks involving dorsolateral prefrontal cortex circuitry (letter fluency, semantic fluency, and Digit Span Backward) but not on other tasks (Vocabulary, Boston Naming Test), and that a greater proportion of DBS patients would fall below Reliable Change Indexes (RCIs). Compared to controls, DBS patients declined only on the fluency tasks. Analyses classified 50% of DBS patients as decliners, compared to 11% of controls. Decliners experienced less motor improvement than non-decliners. The present study adds to the literature through its hypothesis-driven method of task selection, inclusion of a disease control group, longer-term follow-up and use of Reliable Change. Our findings provide evidence that unilateral DBS surgery is associated with verbal fluency declines and indicate that while these changes may not be systematically related to age, cognitive or depression status at baseline, semantic fluency declines may be more common after left-sided surgery. Finally, use of Reliable Change highlights the impact of individual variability and indicates that fluency declines likely reflect significant changes in a subset of patients who demonstrate a poorer surgical outcome overall.

This study investigates the prevalence and demographic characteristics of hypersexuality in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Impulse control disorders in PD patients have been associated with dopamine agonist therapy. Moreover, hypersexuality and pathological gambling have been associated with males, while females may be inherently thought to be more likely to participate in compulsive shopping and binge-eating behaviors. In this study, a screening mail-in survey was sent to all PD patients at a single Movement Disorders Center. One hundred forty one of 400 (35.3%) research packets were returned completed. Fifteen of 141 patients met initial screening criteria for hypersexual behavior. After detailed interview, only 6/141 (4.3%) of PD patients met criteria for pathologic hypersexual behavior. These behaviors included: compulsive masturbation, prostitution, and paraphilias. Patients with a younger age of PD onset were more likely to exhibit hypersexual behavior. Unlike previous report, no significant association was found between hypersexuality and gender or dopamine agonist use. Rather, this study suggests that physicians should be vigilant for hypersexual behavior in all PD patients, regardless of gender and PD medication regimen. Ultimately, given the innate sensitivity of the topic and survey limitations, it is very likely that hypersexual behavior in our cohort, as it is in the general PD population, has been under-reported.

Several studies have related pathological gambling in PD to dopamine agonist therapy. A mail-in survey was sent to PD patients seen at the University of Florida Movement Disorders Center to determine gambling frequency and behavior, and any lifestyle or environmental factors associated with compulsive gambling in PD. 462 surveys were sent and 127 completed surveys were returned, of which ten were from patients who met criteria for compulsive gambling. All ten were taking dopamine agonists coincident with the compulsive gambling. Compulsive gamblers were younger, and psychological distress measures revealed that compulsive gamblers exhibited higher levels of anxiety, anger, and confusion. Thus in this cohort, we have uncovered the several characteristics of the most likely PD compulsive gambler, namely: (young) age, “angry”, “anxious”, and using a (dopamine) agonist.

To test whether the synucleinopathies Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy (MSA) share a common genetic etiology, we performed a candidate single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) association study of the 384 most associated SNPs in a genome-wide association study of Parkinson’s disease in 413 MSA cases and 3,974 control subjects. The 10 most significant SNPs were then replicated in additional 108 MSA cases and 537 controls. SNPs at the SNCA locus were significantly associated with risk for increased risk for the development of MSA (combined p = 5.5 × 1012; odds ratio 6.2).

While deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery is a well-accepted treatment for Parkinson disease (PD) that improves overall quality of life (QoL), its effects across different domains of QoL are unclear. The study reported here directly compared the effects of unilateral DBS in subthalamic nucleus (STN) or globus pallidus (GPi) on QoL in 42 non-demented patients with medication-refractory PD. Patients were enrolled in the COMPARE trial, a randomized clinical trial of cognitive and mood effects of STN versus GPi DBS conducted at the University of Florida Movement Disorders Center. Patients underwent motor, mood, verbal fluency and QoL (Parkinson disease questionnaire: PDQ-39) measures before and 6 months following surgery. Groups experienced motor and mood improvements that did not differ by target. Patients with STN DBS evidenced a slight decrement on letter fluency. On average, all patients endorsed better overall QoL after surgery. However, despite similar motor and mood improvements, GPi patients improved more than STN patients (38 vs. 14%, respectively; P = 0.03). Patients reported better QoL on subscales of mobility, activities of daily living (ADLs), emotional well-being, stigma, cognition and discomfort, but not on those of social support and communication. Improvements on the mobility, ADLs, stigma and social support subscales were greater amongst GPi patients. In regression analyses, only depression changes independently predicted changes in overall QoL as well as emotional well-being and social support changes. Within the STN group only, declining category fluency scores correlated with poorer QoL on the communication subscale. Unilateral DBS in both STN and GPi improved QoL overall and in disparate domains 6 months after surgery. Patients receiving GPi DBS reported greater improvements that cannot be explained by differential mood or motor effects; however, verbal fluency changes may have partially contributed to lesser QoL improvements amongst STN patients.

Objective

There is a paucity of level-one evidence comparing STN and GPi DBS. Our aim in this prospective blinded randomized trial was to compare the cognitive and mood effects of unilateral subthalamic nucleus (STN) vs. unilateral globus pallidus interna (GPi) deep brain stimulation (DBS) in patients with Parkinson disease (PD).

Methods

Fifty-two subjects with moderate-to-advanced PD were randomized to either unilateral STN or GPi DBS. Right or alternatively left sided stimulation was chosen to address the side of the body with the most bothersome symptoms. The co-primary outcome measures were the change in the 8 subscales of the Visual Analog Mood Scale (VAMS), and the change in the 2 versions of verbal fluency (i.e. semantic and letter), at 7 months post-DBS in the optimal setting compared to the pre-DBS state. In addition, at 7 months post-DBS, after subjects underwent initial evaluation off medications and on optimized DBS therapy, they were tested in four randomized and counterbalanced conditions (optimal DBS, ventral DBS, dorsal DBS, and off DBS) while remaining off medication. Secondary outcome measures then compared the differences in the VAMS items and verbal fluency subscales within the 4 DBS conditions at 7 months, and the change in the VAMS items and verbal fluency subscales from the pre-DBS state to the other 3 DBS conditions (ventral, dorsal and off ) at 7 months.

Results

Forty-five subjects (23 GPi and 22 STN) completed the protocol. The study revealed no significant difference between STN and GPi DBS in the change of co-primary mood and cognitive outcomes from pre- to post-DBS in the optimal setting (Hotelling's T2 test: p=0.16 and 0.08 respectively). When comparing the 4 DBS conditions at 7 months, subjects in both targets were less “happy”, less “energetic” and more “confused” when stimulated ventrally to the optimal stimulation site. When comparing the other 3 DBS conditions (ventral, dorsal and off DBS) to the pre-DBS state, the STN group showed a larger deterioration of letter verbal fluency scores than the GPi group, especially in the off DBS state. A 12-point mean improvement in the UPDRS motor subscale was seen post DBS, but there was no significant difference between targets.

Interpretations

There were no significant differences in in the co-primary outcome measures of mood and cognition between STN and GPi in the optimal DBS state.. However, adverse mood effects were noted when stimulating ventrally to the optimal site in both targets. Furthermore, a worsening for letter verbal fluency was noted in the 3 non-optimal post-DBS states in the STN target only. The persistence of deterioration in verbal fluency in the off DBS state at 7 months is, suggestive of a surgical rather than a stimulation-induced effect at the STN target. STN and GPi DBS resulted in similar motor improvement.