Results
Title

Effect of cerebrospinal dual-site magnetic stimulation on freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease.

Authors

Wang, Lina; Sun, Huimin; Zhang, Heng; Ji, Min; Gan, Caiting; Shan, Aidi; Cao, Xingyue; Yuan, Yongsheng; Zhang, Kezhong

Abstract

Addressing levodopa-unresponsive freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson's disease (PD) presents a significant challenge. A randomized double-blinded trial evaluated the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in conjunction with transcutaneous magnetic spinal cord stimulation among 57 PD individuals experiencing levodopa-unresponsive FOG. Patients were randomized to receive dual-site stimulation involving bilateral primary motor cortex of the lower leg (M1-LL) and the lumbar spinal cord, single-site stimulation targeting bilateral M1-LL alone, or sham stimulation for 10 sessions. Low-frequency rTMS induced remarkable improvements in FOG, gait, and motor functions compared to sham at 1 day and 1 month postintervention. Notably, the dual-site protocol demonstrated superior efficacy in mitigating FOG and improving gait compared to the single-site approach, which correlated with a pronounced increase in short-interval intracortical inhibition of the abductor pollicis brevis. These findings underscore the potential of the cerebrospinal dual-site regimen as a promising approach for levodopa-unresponsive FOG and gait in PD.

Subjects

TRANSCRANIAL magnetic stimulation; GAIT disorders; PARKINSON'S disease; SPINAL cord; MOTOR cortex

Publication

NPJ Parkinson's Disease, 2024, Vol 10, Issue 1, p1

ISSN

2373-8057

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1038/s41531-024-00792-1