Levodopa/Carbidopa Intestinal Gel Long-Term Outcome in Parkinson's Disease: Focus on Dyskinesia.

BACKGROUND: Levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) treatment has shown variable effect on dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease (PD). OBJECTIVE: To identify PD patients who are likely to have troublesome dyskinesia under LCIG treatment and describe the pharmacokinetic-dynamic profile and dyskinesia phenomenology of those patients. METHODS: PD patients were assessed for clinical and therapeutic variables, before LCIG treatment (T0) and at last outpatient visit (T1). Sub-groups of patients with and without "troublesome dyskinesia" (UPDRS IV, item 33 ≥2), matched for disease and LCIG treatment duration, underwent a pharmacokinetic-dynamic assessment. RESULTS: We included 53 PD patients. After a mean of 51.7 ± 34.1 months of LCIG treatment, "off-time" was significantly reduced, whereas, dyskinesia duration/disability did not change. The multivariate regression model, adjusted for LCIG treatment duration, showed that being female increases the risk of presenting troublesome dyskinesia at T1 (odds ratio [OR] = 9.2; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.4-37.4) that was also significantly associated to longer off periods at T1 (OR= 4.4; 95% CI = 1.1-14.3). Female patients showed a higher risk for a higher dyskinesia score at T1 (sum of the items 32 and 33: P = 0.001). Patients with troublesome dyskinesia showed a tendency for a lower motor benefit and the appearance of more severe dyskinesia despite similar levodopa plasma concentration. CONCLUSION: Dyskinesia should be carefully monitored in patients undergoing LCIG, with particular caution for female patients. Whether combined clinical and pharmacodynamic assessments could be helpful to manage patients with troublesome dyskinesia under LCIG treatment needs further evaluation in a larger group of patients.

Parkinsonian traits in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): a prospective population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by a spectrum of phenotypes, but only a few studies have addressed the presence of parkinsonian (PK) symptoms. The aim of our study was to investigate the occurrence of PK features in a prospective population-based cohort of ALS patients, determining their demographic, clinical, neuropsychological and genetic characteristics, and identifying their morphological and functional imaging correlates. METHODS: A consecutive series of ALS patients were enrolled and prospectively followed for 2 years. Patients were classified according to the presence (ALS-PK) or absence (ALS) of PK signs, and they underwent neuropsychological testing, genetic analysis for the main ALS and PD genes, brain MRI and 18F-FDG-PET. ALS-PK patients underwent 123I-ioflupane SPECT. RESULTS: Out of 114 eligible patients, 101 (64 men; mean age at onset 65.1 years) were recruited. Thirty-one patients (30.7%) were classified as ALS-PK. Compared to ALS patients, ALS-PK patients were more frequently male, but did not differ for any other clinical, demographic or neuropsychological factors. 123I-ioflupane SPECT was normal in all but two ALS-PK patients. At 18F-FDG-PET, ALS-PK patients showed a relative hypometabolism in left cerebellum and a relatively more preserved metabolism in right insula and frontal regions; MRI fractional anisotropy was reduced in the sagittal stratum and increased in the retrolenticular part of the internal capsule. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, about 30% of ALS patients showed PK signs. Neuroimaging data indicate that PK signs are due to the involvement of brain circuitries other than classical nigrostriatal ones, strengthening the hypothesis of ALS as a complex multisystem disease.

Parkinson's disease progression at 30 years: a study of subthalamic deep brain-stimulated patients.

Clinical findings in Parkinson's disease suggest that most patients progressively develop disabling non-levodopa-responsive symptoms during the course of the disease. Nevertheless, several heterogeneous factors, such as clinical phenotype, age at onset and genetic aspects may influence the long-term clinical picture. In order to investigate the main features of long-term Parkinson's disease progression, we studied a cohort of 19 subjects treated with subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation after >20 years of disease, reporting clinical and neuropsychological data up to a mean of 30 years from disease onset. This group of patients was characterized by an early onset of disease, with a mean age of 38.63 years at Parkinson's disease onset, which was significantly lower than in the other long-term subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation follow-up cohorts reported in the literature. All subjects were regularly evaluated by a complete Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, a battery of neuropsychological tests and a clinical interview, intended to assess the rate of non-levodopa-responsive symptom progression. Clinical data were available for all patients at presurgical baseline and at 1, 3 and 5 years from the subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation surgical procedure, while follow-up data after >7 years were additionally reported in a subgroup of 14 patients. The clinical and neuropsychological performance progressively worsened during the course of follow-up; 64% of patients gradually developed falls, 86% dysphagia, 57% urinary incontinence and 43% dementia. A progressive worsening of motor symptoms was observed both in 'medication-ON' condition and in 'stimulation-ON' condition, with a parallel reduction in the synergistic effect of 'medication-ON/stimulation-ON' condition. Neuropsychological data also showed a gradual decline in the performances of all main cognitive domains, with an initial involvement of executive functions, followed by the impairment of language, reasoning and memory. Thirty years after the disease onset, most patients presented non-levodopa-responsive symptoms, although the effect of both subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation and dopaminergic therapies still showed significant efficacy on the main disease cardinal features. Nevertheless, compared with other subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation follow-up studies, which included patients with a shorter disease duration at the time of surgery, a higher prevalence of axial and non-levodopa-responsive symptoms was observed in the long-term evaluations, confirming that several complex aspects underlie the development of non-motor symptoms and other features of Parkinson's disease progression, even in patients with an early disease onset and a prior long-lasting response to dopaminergic therapies.