Addressing the Challenges of Clinical Research for Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's Disease

On-Demand Cueing for Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND

Cueing can alleviate freezing of gait (FOG) in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), but using the same cues continuously in daily life may compromise effectiveness. Therefore, we developed the DeFOG-system to deliver personalized auditory cues on detection of a FOG episode.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to evaluate the effects of DeFOG during a FOG-provoking protocol: (1) after 4 weeks of DeFOG-use in daily life against an active control group; (2) after immediate DeFOG-use (within-group) in different medication states.

METHOD

In this randomized controlled trial, 63 people with PD and daily FOG were allocated to the DeFOG or active control group. Both groups received feedback on their daily living step counts using the device, but the DeFOG group also received on-demand cueing. Video-rated FOG severity was compared pre- and post-intervention through a FOG-provoking protocol administered at home off and on-medication, but without using DeFOG. Within-group effects were tested by comparing FOG during the protocol with and without DeFOG.

RESULTS

DeFOG-use during the 4 weeks was similar between groups, but we found no between-group differences in FOG-severity. However, the within-group analysis showed that FOG was alleviated by DeFOG (effect size d = 0.57), regardless of medication state. Combining DeFOG and medication yielded an effect size of d = 0.67.

CONCLUSIONS

DeFOG reduced FOG considerably in a population of severe freezers both off and on medication. Nonetheless, 4 weeks of DeFOG-use in daily life did not ameliorate FOG during the protocol unless DeFOG was worn. These findings suggest that on-demand cueing is only effective when used, similar to other walking aids. © 2024 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Spinal cord stimulation for gait disturbances in Parkinson's disease

INTRODUCTION

Gait disturbances are a major contributor to the disability associated with Parkinson's disease. Although pharmacologic therapies and deep brain stimulation improve most motor parkinsonian features, their effects on gait are highly variable. Spinal cord stimulation, typically used for the treatment of chronic pain, has emerged as a potential therapeutic approach to improve gait disturbances in Parkinson's disease.

AREAS COVERED

The authors review the available evidence on the effects of spinal cord stimulation in patients with Parkinson's disease, targeting primarily gait abnormalities. They also discuss possible mechanisms, safety, and methodological implications for future clinical trials. This systematic review of originally published articles in English language was performed using The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA).

Fiber-specific white matter alterations in Parkinson's disease patients with freezing of gait

Freezing of gait (FOG) is a gait disorder that usually occurs in advanced stages of Parkinson's disease (PD). Understanding the underlying mechanism of FOG is important for treatment and prevention. Previous studies have investigated white matter (WM) structure to explore the pathology of FOG. However, the pathology is still unclear, possibly due to the methodological limitation in identifying specific fiber tracts. This study aimed to investigate tract-specific WM structural changes in FOG patients and their relationships with clinical characteristics. We enrolled 19 PD patients with FOG (PD-FOG), 19 without FOG (PD-woFOG) and 21 controls. Fixel-based analysis is a novel framework to avoid the effect of crossing fibers, which provides the metrics to assess WM morphology. By combining a method for segmenting fibers, we identified abnormalities in the specific fiber tracts. Compared to PD-woFOG, PD-FOG showed significant increased fiber-bundle cross-section (FC) in the corpus callosum (CC), fornix (FX), inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), striato-premotor (ST_PREM), superior thalamic radiation (STR), thalamo-premotor (T_PREM), increased fiber density and cross-section (FDC) in the STR, and decreased fiber density (FD) in the CC and ILF. Additionally, the ILF was correlated with motor, cognition and memory, the CC was correlated with anxiety, and the T_PREM was also correlated with cognition. In conclusion, in addition to impairments of WM found in PD-FOG, we found enhancements in WM, which may imply compensatory mechanisms. Furthermore, multiple fiber tracts were correlated with clinical characteristics, especially the ILF, validating the involvement of transmission circuits of multiple distinct information in mechanisms of FOG.

Neural underpinnings of freezing-related dynamic balance control in people with Parkinson's disease

INTRODUCTION

People with Parkinson's disease (PD) with freezing of gait (FOG; freezers) show impaired dynamic balance and experience falls more frequently compared to those without (non-freezers). Here, we explore the neural underpinnings of these freezing-related balance problems.

METHODS

12 freezers, 16 non-freezers and 14 controls performed a dynamic balance task in the lab. The next day, the same task was investigated in the MRI-scanner through motor imagery (MI). A visual imagery (VI) control task was also performed. Imagery engagement was determined by comparing the performance times between the dynamic balance task, and its MI- and VI-variants. Balance-related brain activations in regions of interest were contrasted between groups based on an MI > rest versus VI > rest contrast.

RESULTS

Freezers and non-freezers were matched for age, cognition and disease severity. Similar performance times between the balance control task and the MI-conditions revealed excellent imagery engagement. Compared to non-freezers, freezers showed decreased activation in regions of interest located in the left mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR; p = 0.006), right anterior cerebellum (p = 0.017) and cerebellar vermis (p < 0.001). Intriguingly, non-freezers showed higher activations in the cerebellar vermis than controls (p = 0.010).

CONCLUSION

Overall, we showed that decreased activation in the left MLR, and cerebellar regions in freezers relative to non-freezers could explain why dynamic balance is more affected in freezers. As non-freezers displayed increased cerebellar vermis activation compared to controls, it is possible that freezers show an inability to recruit sufficient compensatory cerebellar activity for effective dynamic balance control.

Cognition and freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Freezing of gait (FOG) is a common and disabling symptom in people with Parkinson's Disease (PwPD). Although cognition is thought to be worse in PwPD who freeze, a comprehensive analysis of this relationship will inform future research and clinical care. This systematic review and meta-analysis compared cognition between PwPD who do and do not exhibit FOG across a range of cognitive domains and assessed the impact of disease severity and medication status on this relationship. 145 papers (n = 9010 participants) were included in the analysis, with 144 and 138 articles meeting the criteria to assess moderating effects of disease severity and medication status, respectively. PwPD who freeze exhibited worse cognition than PwPD without FOG across global cognition, executive function/attention, language, memory, and visuospatial domains. Greater disease severity and "ON" levodopa medication status moderated the FOG status-cognition relationship in global cognitive performance but not in other cognitive domains. This meta-analysis confirmed that cognition is worse in PwPD with FOG and highlights the importance of disease severity and medication status in this relationship.

The Ziegler Test Is Reliable and Valid for Measuring Freezing of Gait in People With Parkinson Disease

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to determine interrater and test-retest reliability of the Ziegler test to measure freezing of gait (FOG) severity in people with Parkinson disease. Secondary aims were to evaluate test validity and explore Ziegler test duration as a proxy FOG severity measure.

METHODS

Physical therapists watched 36 videos of people with Parkinson disease and FOG perform the Ziegler test and rated FOG severity using the rating scale in real time. Two researchers rated 12 additional videos and repeated the ratings at least 1 week later. Interrater and test-retest reliability were calculated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Bland-Altman plots were used to visualize agreement between the researchers for test-retest reliability. Correlations between the Ziegler scores, Ziegler test duration, and percentage of time frozen (based on video annotations) were determined using Pearson r.

RESULTS

Twenty-four physical therapists participated. Overall, the Ziegler test showed good interrater (ICC2,1 = 0.80; 95% CI = 0.65-0.92) and excellent test-retest (ICC3,1 = 0.91; 95% CI = 0.82-0.96) reliability when used to measure FOG. It was also a valid measure, with a high correlation (r = 0.72) between the scores and percentage of time frozen. Ziegler test duration was moderately correlated (r = 0.67) with percentage of time frozen and may be considered a proxy FOG severity measure.

CONCLUSION

The Ziegler test is a reliable and valid tool to measure FOG when used by physical therapists in real time. Ziegler test duration may be used as a proxy for measuring FOG severity.

IMPACT

Despite FOG being a significant contributor to falls and poor mobility in people with Parkinson disease, current tools to assess FOG are either not suitably responsive or too resource intensive for use in clinical settings. The Ziegler test is a reliable and valid measure of FOG, suitable for clinical use, and may be used by physical therapists regardless of their level of clinical experience.

The Grey Area of Freezing of Gait Annotation: a Guideline and Open‐source Practical Tool

Background

Freezing of gait, a disabling episodic symptom, is difficult to assess as the exact begin‐ and endpoint of an episode is not easy to specify. This hampers scientific and clinical progress. The current golden standard is video annotation by two independent raters. However, the comparison of the two ratings gives rise to non‐overlapping, gray areas.

Objective

To provide a guideline for dealing with these gray areas.

Methods/Results

We propose a standardized procedure for handling the gray areas based on two parameters, the tolerance and correction parameter. Furthermore, we recommend the use of positive agreement, negative agreement, and prevalence index to report interrater agreement instead of the commonly used intraclass correlation coefficient or Cohen's kappa. This theoretical guideline was implemented in an open‐source practical tool, FOGtool (https://github.com/helenacockx/FOGtool).

Conclusion

This paper aims to contribute to the standardization of freezing of gait assessment, thereby improving data sharing procedures and replicability of study results.

Interventions to improve gait in Parkinson's disease: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials and network meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION

Disabling gait symptoms, especially freezing of gait (FoG), represents a milestone in the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). This systematic review and network meta-analysis assessed and ranked interventions according to their effectiveness in treating gait symptoms in people with PD across four different groups of gait measures.

METHODS

A systematic search was carried out across PubMed, EMBASE, PubMed Central (PMC), and Cochrane Central Library from January 2000 to April 2021. All interventions, or combinations, were included. The primary outcome was changes in objective gait measures, before and after intervention. Outcome measures in the included studies were stratified into four different types of gait outcome measures; dynamic gait, fitness, balance, and freezing of gait. For the statistical analysis, five direct head-to-head comparisons of interventions, as well as indirect comparisons were performed. Corresponding forest plots ranking the interventions were generated.

RESULTS

The search returned 6288 articles. From these, 148 articles could be included. Of the four different groups of measurement, three were consistent, meaning that there was agreement between direct and indirect evidence. The groups with consistent evidence were dynamic gait, fitness, and freezing of gait. For dynamic gait measures, treatments with the largest observed effect were Aquatic Therapy with dual task exercising (SMD 1.99 [- 1.00; 4.98]) and strength and balance training (SMD 1.95 [- 0.20; 4.11]). For measures of fitness, treatments with the largest observed effects were aquatic therapy (SMD 3.41 [2.11; 4.71] and high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (SMD 2.51 [1.48; 3.55]). For FoG measures, none of the included interventions yielded significant results.

CONCLUSION

Some interventions can ameliorate gait impairment in people with PD. No recommendations on a superior intervention can be made. None of the studied interventions proved to be efficacious in the treatment of FoG. PROSPERO (registration ID CRD42021264076).

Stepping up to meet the challenge of freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease

There has been a growing appreciation for freezing of gait as a disabling symptom that causes a significant burden in Parkinson’s disease. Previous research has highlighted some of the key components that underlie the phenomenon, but these reductionist approaches have yet to lead to a paradigm shift resulting in the development of novel treatment strategies. Addressing this issue will require greater integration of multi-modal data with complex computational modeling, but there are a number of critical aspects that need to be considered before embarking on such an approach. This paper highlights where the field needs to address current gaps and shortcomings including the standardization of definitions and measurement, phenomenology and pathophysiology, as well as considering what available data exist and how future studies should be constructed to achieve the greatest potential to better understand and treat this devastating symptom.

Discussion of Research Priorities for Gait Disorders in Parkinson's Disease

Gait and balance abnormalities develop commonly in Parkinson's disease and are among the motor symptoms most disabling and refractory to dopaminergic or other treatments, including deep brain stimulation. Efforts to develop effective therapies are challenged by limited understanding of these complex disorders. There is a major need for novel and appropriately targeted research to expedite progress in this area. The Scientific Issues Committee of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society has charged a panel of experts in the field to consider the current knowledge gaps and determine the research routes with highest potential to generate groundbreaking data. © 2021 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.