Sleep disorders frequency in post-polio syndrome patients caused by periodic limb movements

Palliative Care for Polio and Postpolio Syndrome

Palliative care is a team-based approach focusing on relief of physical, psychosocial, and existential distress and communication about serious illness. Patients with poliomyelitis and postpolio syndrome are at risk for contractures and can benefit from involvement of physical and occupational therapy. Hypersialorrhea can be treated with anticholinergic medications, botox, or radiation. Patients with dyspnea may require noninvasive positive pressure ventilation ± opioids or benzodiazepines. Constipation is often due to autonomic dysfunction and decreased mobility. There is a higher burden of anxiety. Early conversations about patients' goals and values as it relates to their health may help frame future decision-making.

Increased cerebral integrity metrics in poliomyelitis survivors: putative adaptation to longstanding lower motor neuron degeneration

BACKGROUND

Post-polio syndrome (PPS) has been traditionally considered a slowly progressive condition that affects poliomyelitis survivors decades after their initial infection. Cerebral changes in poliomyelitis survivors are poorly characterised and the few existing studies are strikingly conflicting.

OBJECTIVE

The overarching aim of this study is the comprehensive characterisation of cerebral grey and white matter alterations in poliomyelitis survivors with reference to healthy- and disease-controls using quantitative imaging metrics.

METHODS

Thirty-six poliomyelitis survivors, 88 patients with ALS and 117 healthy individuals were recruited in a prospective, single-centre neuroimaging study using uniform MRI acquisition parameters. All participants underwent standardised clinical assessments, T1-weighted structural and diffusion tensor imaging. Whole-brain and region-of-interest morphometric analyses were undertaken to evaluate patterns of grey matter changes. Tract-based spatial statistics were performed to evaluate diffusivity alterations in a study-specific whiter matter skeleton.

RESULTS

In contrast to healthy controls, poliomyelitis survivors exhibited increased grey matter partial volumes in the brainstem, cerebellum and occipital lobe, accompanied by increased FA in the corticospinal tracts, cerebellum, bilateral mesial temporal lobes and inferior frontal tracts. Polio survivors exhibited increased integrity metrics in the same anatomical regions where ALS patients showed degenerative changes.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate considerable cortical and white matter reorganisation in poliomyelitis survivors which may be interpreted as compensatory, adaptive change in response to severe lower motor neuron injury in infancy.

Post-polio Syndrome: More Than Just a Lower Motor Neuron Disease

Post-polio syndrome (PPS) is a neurological condition that affects polio survivors decades after their initial infection. Despite its high prevalence, the etiology of PPS remains elusive, mechanisms of progression are poorly understood, and the condition is notoriously under-researched. While motor dysfunction is a hallmark feature of the condition, generalized fatigue, sleep disturbance, decreased endurance, neuropsychological deficits, sensory symptoms, and chronic pain are also often reported and have considerable quality of life implications in PPS. The non-motor aspects of PPS are particularly challenging to evaluate, quantify, and treat. Generalized fatigue is one of the most distressing symptoms of PPS and is likely to be multifactorial due to weight-gain, respiratory compromise, poor sleep, and polypharmacy. No validated diagnostic, monitoring, or prognostic markers have been developed in PPS to date and the mainstay of therapy centers on symptomatic relief and individualized rehabilitation strategies such as energy conservation and muscle strengthening exercise regimes. Despite a number of large clinical trials in PPS, no effective disease-modifying pharmacological treatments are currently available.