Impact of deep brain stimulation on quality of life and motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease and X-linked dystonia parkinsonism: The Philippine experience

Filipinos and Parkinson's disease: A scoping review of the literature

BACKGROUND

Filipinos are the third largest sub-group of Asian Americans in the United States and have greater socioeconomic and health disparities than many other Asian sub-groups [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. Characteristics of Filipino patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have not been adequately studied.

OBJECTIVE

To scope the extent, range and nature of current knowledge on PD in Filipino-American (FA) patients in contrast to Filipino patients in general.

METHODS

We undertook a scoping review including all types of research relating to PD in Filipinos. We searched the following electronic databases: MEDLINE via PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, Herdin and Journals@OVID (searched 1944-November 2024). Criteria for inclusion were peer-reviewed empirical articles published in English that specifically included and described Filipino patients with PD. We reviewed all eligible articles and categorized them by general topical themes.

RESULTS

The scoping review resulted in 48 eligible papers (Fig. 1). There were 7 papers that discussed PD in FA, and 35 papers that discussed PD in the Philippines. The main themes identified from the scoping review were: epidemiology/etiology (n = 19, 39 %), clinical manifestations and management (n = 20, 42 %), and access to PD care (n = 9, 19 %).

CONCLUSION

There is a paucity of information on PD in the FA population, with the majority of studies from the Philippines. Further studies on FA in the US, when compared to the studies from the Philippines, may shed light on how differences in the environment and sociodemographic factors may influence the nature and course of PD.

A scoping review on the diagnosis and treatment of X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism

INTRODUCTION

X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism (XDP) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that has been studied well in recent years.

OBJECTIVES

This scoping review aimed to describe the current state of knowledge about the diagnosis and treatment of XDP, to provide clinicians with a concise and up-to-date overview.

METHODS

We conducted a scoping review of pertinent literature on the diagnosis and treatment of XDP using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines.

RESULTS

There were 24 articles on diagnostic methods and 20 articles on therapeutic interventions for XDP, with 7 review articles describing both. The detection of the SVA retrotransposon insertion within the TAF1 gene is confirmatory for XDP. Oral medications are marginally effective. Chemodenervation with botulinum toxin is an effective treatment. Pallidal deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been shown to provide significant improvement in the dystonia and quality of life of patients with XDP for a longer time. A less invasive surgical option is the transcranial magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (tcMRgFUS), which has shown promising effects with the limited number of case reports available.

CONCLUSION

XDP is a geneti disorder characterized by striatal symptoms and pathology on neuroimaging. No effective oral medications are available for the management of XDP. The use of botulinum toxin is limited by its cost and duration of effects. As of now, pallidal DBS is deemed to be the best option. Another promising option is the tcMRgFUS but still has limited studies on its safety and efficacy in XDP.