Spinal cord stimulation for postural abnormalities in Parkinson’s disease: 1-year prospective pilot study

Abstract

Background

Postural abnormalities (PA) are common in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD), but effective therapies are lacking. A few studies suggested that spinal cord stimulation (SCS) could be a potential therapy whereas its effect is still uncertain. We aimed to investigate whether SCS had potential for benefiting PD patients with PA.

Methods

T8-12 SCS was operated on six PD patients with PA and all patients were followed for one year. Evaluations were made before and after SCS. Moreover, three patients were tested separately with SCS on-state and off-state to confirm the efficacy of SCS.

Results

Improvements in lateral trunk flexion degree, anterior thoracolumbar flexion degree and motor function were found after SCS. The improvements diminished while SCS was turned off.

Conclusions

Lower thoracic SCS may be effective for improving PA in PD patients, but further studies are needed to confirm this conclusion.

Trial registration

Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1900024326, Registered on 6th July 2019; https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=40835.