Spinal cord stimulation improves gait in patients with Parkinson's disease previously treated with deep brain stimulation

Carolina Pinto de Souza, Clement Hamani, Carolina Oliveira Souza, William Omar Lopez Contreras, Maria Gabriela dos Santos Ghilardi, Rubens Gisbert Cury, Egberto Reis Barbosa, Manoel Jacobsen Teixeira, Erich Talamoni Fonoff

Research output: Articles / NotesScientific Articlepeer-review

78 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Deep brain stimulation and levodopatherapy ameliorate motor manifestations in Parkinson's disease, but their effects on axial signs are not sustained in the long term. Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of spinal cord stimulation on gait disturbance in advanced Parkinson's disease. Methods: A total of 4 Parkinson's disease patients who experienced significant postural instability and gait disturbance years after chronic subthalamic stimulation were treated with spinal cord stimulation at 300 Hz. Timed-Up-GO and 20-meter-walk tests, UPDRS III, freezing of gait questionnaire, and quality-of-life scores were measured at 6 months and compared to baseline values. Blinded assessments to measure performance in the Timed-Up-GO and 20-meter-walk tests were carried out during sham stimulation at 300 Hz and 60 Hz. Results: Patients treated with spinal cord stimulation had approximately 50% to 65% improvement in gait measurements and 35% to 45% in UPDRS III and quality-of-life scores. During blinded evaluations, significant improvements in the Timed-Up-GO and 20-meter-walk tests were only recorded at 300 Hz. Conclusion: Spinal cord stimulation at 300 Hz was well tolerated and led to a significant improvement in gait.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)278-282
Number of pages5
JournalMovement Disorders
Volume32
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • freezing of gait
  • locomotion
  • parkinson
  • postural instability and gait disturbances
  • spinal cord

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