Sunday DBS workshop

 Sunday, November 19

 2-4 PM

DBS Support Group meeting at Casco Bay YMCA

 14 Old South Freeport Rd., Freeport, ME

 The Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery Support Group will be conducting a dialogue with those who have had a deep brain stimulation surgery and those are contemplating having the surgery.  This will allow real-time information and discussion from all in attendance.  Individuals who have had surgery will be available to shared her experience and answer questions.  The meeting is free and attendees are encouraged RSVP for planning purposes at 207-865-9600

 

How close are we to focused ultrasound for PD in Maine?

Focused ultrasound (FUS) is a specialized technique that was FDA approved to treat essential tremor (ET) in 2016.  Patients undergoing treatment receive a noninvasive MRI-guided procedure in which there is no incision, no breach of the skull as in deep brain stimulation (DBS).  Instead, beams of acoustic energy are directed from 1,024 tiny transducers toward the same target in the brain, the VIM nucleus of the thalamus.  Ultrasound energy combines at the VIM to lesion the nucleus by generating heat powerful enough to coagulate (and thus destroy) tissue.  The result is similar to any intervention that burns, freezes, or otherwise jams the signal in a brain region (much of the programming of DBS for example, is meant to jam a signal).  As of yet, with ET only one side is treated by FUS.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS FUS FOR ET?

In a major U.S. study involving 76 patients with medication-refractory ET, a 32-point clinical tremor rating scale was used to measure outcomes (1).  Hand tremor scores improved after FUS, from 18.1 at baseline to 9.6 three months after the procedure.  In other words, on average, tremor intensity lessened by about 50%.  Patients receiving a sham procedure averaged a drop from 16.0 to 15.8 points.  However, about 14% of the patients had a less than 20% improvement.  At three months, adverse events in the treatment group included gait disturbance (36%) and tingling/numbness (38%).  Slurred speech occurred in 1% of treated patients, but this apparently resolved.  At 12 months, gait disturbance was still present in 9% and tingling in 14%.  Overall, in the treatment group, disability was reduced by about 60% and about half of patients reported improvements in quality of life, which were maintained for the entire year of the study.

WHAT ABOUT FUS FOR PD?

In another trial (2), 30 patients with severe medication-resistant tremor underwent FUS:  18 with ET, 9 with PD, and 3 with both ET and PD.  The average age of the study population was 68.9 ± 8.3 years, with an average disease duration of 12.1 ± 8.9 years.  Patients with PD showed an average reduction in motor score (part III of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale) from 24.9 ± 8.0 to 16.4 ± 11 at one month, and 13.4 ± 9.2 at six months after treatment.  Over the two- year follow up, tremor reappeared in two of the PD patients and in two who had combined ET-PD.  In this study, reportedly no adverse event lasted beyond three months.

There are other considerations, and as of yet there is no FDA approval for PD.  At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) held this past spring in Boston, the topic of FUS in PD was discussed (3).  Dr. Paul Fishman noted that while some results were very positive in studies, going through the procedure itself might be uncomfortable.  Some patients felt like the metal frame required for the procedure was uncomfortable, and many complained of a feeling of heat or sense of “whirling.”  Since the original study, another 186 patients have been followed in open label studies of FUS.  According to Dr. Fishman, 83% of adverse events were rated as mild and 2% as severe.  Some of the adverse events had been persistent, and he noted, “This is not a risk-free technique,” though the overall incidence of serious adverse events was less than that of DBS.  Dr. Michael Okun also spoke at the AAN meeting on this topic.  By comparison, during DBS implantation a specialist is able to verify that the lead is in the exact right target of the brain; whereas “with ultrasound you cannot test to make sure you have hit the right target.  If you have adverse events that include paresthesias in the face, tongue and leg, you missed.”   There is also data showing that tremor may, more or less, “creep” back in the months after a FUS.  More concerning, he noted,

“You can’t troubleshoot an ultrasound lesion. When you have a problem, you’ve got a problem.  The lesion is irreversible.  It can’t be programmed or modulated.

The opposite is true of DBS, wherein programming changes can often alleviate a particular symptom.

In September 2015, Kimberly Spletter of Maryland was one of the first PD patients to receive FUS, and was featured on Michael J. Fox Mobile News (5).  There is a 5-minute video on the site with some impressive before/after footage and interesting graphics.  In Spletter’s case, the indication was not tremor, but her advanced dyskinesias (6).  For this, a different target was chosen for FUS, the globus pallidus.  She was one of forty patients were enrolled in a study of FUS in PD.  It is my understanding that the study is completed, but the data is not yet published.  To see an follow up video of her in January, 2017 click this link: http://www.localdvm.com/news/maryland/more-than-a-year-after-breakthrough-parkinsons-disease-treatment-woman-does-better-than-expected/642454168

WHAT ABOUT MAINE?

As for FUS in Maine, we are yet to have a case done here.  I spoke with functional neurosurgeon Dr. Anand Rughani on the topic, who gave the following statement:

“It is an interesting option to consider for lesioning.  The concept of lesioning is not new in treating movement disorders such as essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease.  A lesion in the thalamus, for example, is called a thalamotomy, and has been widely used to treat tremor.  Other methods of creating a lesion include radiosurgery using Gamma Knife, which is not an actual surgery, and radiofrequency lesioning, which is an actual surgery.  In general, a few comments can be made when comparing lesioning to stimulation, as in deep brain stimulation.  Lesions can only be done on one side of the brain.  Lesions are not usually as durable as stimulation, meaning that the benefit may not last as long.  The side effects of lesions are not reversible in the same way that they can be with stimulation.  While there is now FDA approval for the treatment of essential tremor using focused ultrasound in the US, patients with Parkinson’s disease will need to consider this option through participation in an experimental trial.”

FUS is done in a few academic centers, such as Brigham and Women’s in Boston (4).  On the BW Neurosurgery website, the following key considerations are listed:  currently, insurance plans do not cover this procedure, and not everyone is eligible for focused ultrasound; eligibility requires evaluation by a neurologist and a neurosurgeon.  One consideration is skull thickness; too much is not good for FUS.  Senator Anthony Pollina of Vermont, for example, was disqualified from FUS for his PD for this reason, and opted instead for DBS (7).

Thus, there is a lot to be hopeful about with this new procedure, but it will be some time before it is available in Maine.  More data needs to be collected, and FDA approval given.  Still, over time it is likely that the procedure will continue to be refined and advanced.

REFERENCES

  1. Elias, et al.,  A Randomized Trial of Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy for Essential Tremor. N Engl J Med. 2016;375(8):730-9.
  2. ZAaroor, et al.  Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy for tremor: a report of 30 Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor cases. J Neurosurg. 2017 Feb 24:1-9.
  3. Susman, E.  Pro and Con: Is Focused ultrasound More Effective than DBS for Parkinson’s Disease? Neurology Today. 2017;17(1):34-5.
  4. http://www.brighamandwomens.org/Departments_and_Services/neurosurgery/NeurosurgicalTechnology/default.aspx?sub=1
  5. https://www.michaeljfox.org/mobile/news-detail.php?how-focused-ultrasound-helped-my-dyskinesia-from-parkinson
  6. https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundation/news-detail.php?first-patient-treated-in-dyskinesia-study-using-ultrasound-technology
  7. https://vtdigger.org/2017/01/16/digger-dialogue-surgery-gives-sen-anthony-pollina-new-lease-life/#.Wclu3VtSyM9

 

Vitamin D

Levels of vitamin D are lower in PD patients worldwide (1).  Several neurologic disorders are associated with vitamin D deficiency, including MS, stroke, and other neurodegenerative disorders.   We are not sure yet what this means, or what all of the functions of vitamin D are (though what is known is extensive).   It seems clear, however, that keeping a normal level is a good idea.

Doctors measure vitamin D with a blood test.  The test checks levels of 25-hydroxy D total, a combination of D2 and D3.  We get vitamin D2 from diet, and some conversion is made when we are exposed to sunlight and UVB enters the skin, helping us produce the active vitamin D3 form.  According to Mayo Medical Laboratories New England, 10-24 ng/mL = mild to moderate deficiency, and optimum levels in the normal population are 25-80 ng/mL.

Interestingly, vitamin D receptors are found all over the brain.  One location that is relevant here is the receptors on large neurons of the substantia nigra, the darkly pigmented structure of our upper brainstem, which produces dopamine.   These cells are unfortunately lost throughout disease in PD.  The progressive depletion of these neurons over several years ultimately results in enough of a dopamine deficiency for the first motor signs of PD to show (tremor, stiffness, slowness).   As disease progresses, one has fewer of the cells, and therefore, less dopamine.

I am going to get a little technical here.  One thing that vitamin D does in these cells is to increase an enzyme called tyrosine hydroxylase.  This enzyme converts the amino acid tyrosine into dopa, a precursor of dopamine.  Therefore, we may need vitamin D to make dopamine efficiently.

Researchers have shown in mice that knocking out the vitamin D receptor on these neurons will result in a PD-like motor impairment (2).  This led the same investigators to question whether low vitamin D might predispose people to neurodegenerative disease.  Further, they wanted to know if keeping levels in the high normal range would make a difference.   In a 12-month study with 114 PD patients who averaged a vitamin D level of 22.5 ng/dL, 56 were given 1200 IU of vitamin D daily and 58 were given placebo.  At the end of the study, the treatment group had a higher vitamin D level, with an average of 42 ng/dL.  The very simple Hoehn and Yahr stage was stable, but not the more detailed UPDRSIII motor score.  This is not an impressive result, but it was a limited study.

The jury is still out on vitamin D levels in PD.  A normal level is probably a good idea for many reasons, but it is not clear if it will have an effect on disease progression.  There is no data on high levels, except to say that taking too much can cause toxicity.  Acute vitamin D toxicity may cause confusion, excess urination and thirst, loss of appetite, vomiting, and muscle weakness.  Chronically high levels of vitamin D may result in kidney stones, loss of bone mineralization, and pain.  So, as with any vitamin, work with your doctor to make sure your level is normal.

REFERENCES

  1. Lv, et al.  Vitamin D Status and Parkinson’s disease” as systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurol Sci 2014;35:1723-30.
  2. Suzuki et al. Does vitamin D arrest the progress of PD?   American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2013;97:1004-13.

 

Maine Run For Parkinson’s 9am-11am Sunday, August 27, 2017

Participants may walk or run.  You sign up for tomorrow’s event as late as 11:59 pm at this website:

https://runsignup.com/Race/Events/ME/Kittery/TheMaineRunforParkinsons#event-156965

Location:

Kittery Trading Post
301 U.S. 1
Kittery, ME US 03904

You can sponsor a runner from Team Maine-iacs page here:

https://fundraise.michaeljfox.org/2017-TCS-NYC-Marathon/Team/View/34832/Maine-iacs

Participants Needed for Research Study at University of New England

Click here to see flier.

This is a study by lead investigator Jim Cavanaugh, PT, PhD to see if a low-profile mouth guard can help improve movement problems associated with Parkinson disease.  A second purpose is to determine if dental medicine students take accurate dental impressions from people with PD.  Participation will include visits to the Portland and Scarborough campuses of UNE.

Please click on link to flier above for more details.

 

Free Webinar with Janet Edmunson: Feel Empowered While Caregiving

 

Click here for the flier or continue reading below:

Join us for a FREE Webinar on September 19, 2017 

Feel Empowered while Caregiving

by Janet Edmunson, M.Ed.

 For family and professional caregivers

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

(The webinar also will be recorded for viewing later)

7:00 p.m. (Eastern)

6:00 p.m. (Central)

5:00 p.m. (Mountain)

4:00 p.m. (Pacific)

Webinar will be approximately 30 minutes in length.

Register online today by clicking the link below.  Or paste the link into your browser.

Registration Link:  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8859603393064370433 

Webinar Description:  Most of us feel powerless and seem to be just surviving our caregiving experience.  But no matter what our situation is, we can still find more happiness and strength.  In this webinar, we’ll explore how to actually feel empowered, instead of deflated. We’ll look at the choices and control we still have.  We’ll explore how to get the appreciation we need as well as how to boost our own spirits. Join us to receive the infusion of energy you deserve for this caregiver journey.

About Janet:  Janet has over 30 years’ experience in the health promotion field.  She retired in May 2007 as Director of the Prevention & Wellness for a staff of 20 at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.  Since retirement, as President of JME Insights, she is a motivational speaker, consultant and trainer, having spoken to hundreds of groups across the U.S.  While working full-time, Janet took care of her husband, Charles, during the five years he fought a movement disorder with dementia.  Janet wrote about her experience in her book, Finding Meaning with Charles.  Janet has a Master’s degree from Georgia State University.  For more information about Janet, see her website at www.AffirmYourself.com.

Webinar Format: You may participate in one of two ways:

  1. The first viewing method is via access through the internet. You can view the presentation on your computer and listen via your computer speakers or USB headset connected to your computer.
  2. The second option would use the internet and a telephone connection, or just the telephone.  Please note: If you use this second option, you may need to pay applicable phone charges from your telephone carrier.

 Once you register, you will receive an email from Janet Edmunson or Transformation Consortium confirming your registration with information you need to join the webinar.

If You Can’t attend on the Webinar Date:  The webinar will be recorded.  If you register for the webinar, you will receive a notice with the link to view the recorded webinar a day or two after the webinar.  You then have about a month to watch the video at your leisure.

Space is limited and registrations are taken on a first come first serve basis.

For Additional Information: You can contact Janet at janet@janetedmunson.com with any questions you have about participating.

 System Requirements:

 PC-based attendees
Required: Windows 7 – Windows 10

Mac-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.9 (Mavericks) – 10.12 (Sierra)

Mobile attendees

Web Browser

Google Chrome v34 or later
Mozilla Firefox v34 or later
Internet Explorer v8 or later
Microsoft Edge v12 or later
Apple Safari v6 or later

Software

GoToWebinar desktop app
JavaScript enabled

Hardware

2GB or more of RAM

For more details or updates, go to this link: https://support.citrixonline.com/en_US/webinar/help_files/G2W010003?title=System+Requirements+for+Attendees

 

Current online study

 

Dear the Maine Parkinson Community,

My name is Lauren Stutts, and I am a faculty member at Davidson College.  I am conducting a study examining the positive and negative effects of living with Parkinson’s Disease.  Anyone who is above 18 years of age, is mentally competent, and is diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease is eligible to participate.   Participation includes filling out this brief anonymous 10-minute online survey: https://davidsonedu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6ok2wOM1JeuClDv   Participation in this study will help improve our knowledge of how Parkinson’s disease affects individuals, which can ultimately inform ways to help improve individuals’ quality of life.

Driving and Parkinson Disease

Almost everyone can recall the rite of passage of earning a driver’s license. Driving is a part of our independence, and many of us enjoy getting behind the wheel to explore the beautiful state around us, or just getting out of the house.  For some, the ability to meet friends is the highlight of the week.   We love our cars.  Unfortunately, certain conditions may rob us of the ability to safely operate a motor vehicle.   Parkinson disease (PD) is one such condition that may cause people to have to hand over the keys.

Knowing when to give up driving is sometimes difficult, and can be a source of great tension among patients, family members, and doctors.   Remember, it’s all about safety for you and everyone else on the road.  Many experts have tried to figure out the best way to go about this.  One study of risk factors (1) emphasizes several relevant issues:

  • caregiver reports of marginal or unsafe skills
  • history of citations
  • history of crashes
  • driving <60 miles per week
  • avoiding certain situations such as high traffic areas
  • aggression
  • impulsivity
  • Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score ≤24

Other confounding issues include alcohol, medications, sleep disorders, visual impairment, and motor impairment of PD.  These are all factors I consider when meeting with a patient.

Other authors have shown that driving is simply impaired in PD compared with healthy comparison drivers, due to underlying motor, cognitive, and visual impairments that can affect fitness to drive (2).  There are many articles on this topic.

It would seem intuitive that as long as disease is mild, driving ability would probably be fine.

Yes, that is a car on its side behind the guard rail.

However, critical abilities for driving include visual attention, spatial awareness, and executive skills not measured by the standard Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor score, or the Hoehn and Yahr scale.  Disease duration is not a good predictor, either.

Driving requires executive function.  In particular, mental flexibility in the process of updating the information in working memory may often be affected in PD (3).  This might seem slightly complicated.  To explain, working memory is temporary mental storage needed to carry out a complex task or mental processing.  Updating can be thought of as refreshing the working memory.  For example, you might need to update road sign information, or conditions of the road.   Patients must also have mental flexibility and quick reaction time, which can be diminished in PD, in order to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, such as when someone unexpectedly pulls in front of you or “cuts you off.”

Whether or not one can continue driving is a difficult discussion, and one I have almost daily with patients and their families.  Even for those who can continue driving, I would recommend taking at least these steps to be safe:

  • Do not drive distracted. Turn off the radio and cell phone, and put down the food and drinks.  Wait until you have parked for the conversations.
  • Do not drive when you are tired, fatigued, or have medication issues that would make you less safe, such as dyskinesia, “wearing off,” or sleepiness. If you are prone to sleep attacks, a rare side effect of dopamine agonists, do not drive until a change in medications has resolved that problem altogether.
  • Do not drive at night if your vision is poor in low light.
  • Do not drive unfamiliar, busy roads.
  • Do not drive with poor posture. Sit up straight, and make sure you are able turn your head to look behind you before hitting the road.

Some patients may just need to revisit driving skills.

The Southern Maine Agency on Aging has a list of driver evaluation and assessment resources, driver improvement courses, and older driver safety information available online at  http://www.smaaa.org/documents/cs/fcg/DrivingInternetTools.pdf

Warning signs that you or a loved one might be an unsafe driver:

  • Driving too slowly
  • Getting lost on a familiar route
  • Ignoring traffic signs
  • Difficulty with turns or changing lanes
  • Drifting into other traffic lanes, or driving on the center line between two lanes
  • Driving on the wrong side of the road
  • Signaling incorrectly, or not at all
  • Inattention to other vehicles, pedestrians, and road hazards
  • Parking inappropriately
  • Hitting parked cars or buildings when trying to park or back up
  • Tickets, traffic violations
  • Near-misses and accidents

The State of Maine has rules regarding driving with PD, most recently updated December 31, 2016.  The Secretary of State and Bureau of Motor Vehicles repealed and replaced Chapter 3: Physical and Mental Competence to Operate a Motor Vehicle.   Doctors across the state were provided with a copy of the new rules, the “Functional Ability Profiles” booklet.  These rules are also available online at https://www1.maine.gov/sos/bmv/licenses/medical.html

If you have Parkinson disease or a related parkinsonian condition, you are obliged by the state to declare yourself to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, or to ask your doctor to fill out an FAP form.  The physician will have to designate you as one of three profile levels:

Level 1: No diagnosed condition, no known disorder.  This usually comes up when a patient has been misdiagnosed, or made a mistake in paperwork.

No driving test required

Level 2: Condition fully recovered.  This might include drug-induced parkinsonism, considered recovered when symptoms resolve after the causative medication is stopped.

No driving test required

Level 3: This is active impairment and is divided into mild, moderate, and severe categories:

Mild

  • physical symptoms that do not pose a risk for safe operation of a vehicle
  • no cognitive or psychiatric symptoms
  • none of the medications taken cause drowsiness

Driving test required every 2 years

Moderate

  • physical symptoms and/or side effects of medication that may potentially interfere with the safe operation of a vehicle
  • may have early cognitive or psychiatric symptoms

Driving test required every year

Severe

  • physical symptoms or side effects of medications that are incompatible with safe operation of a motor vehicle

No driving

REFERENCES

  1. Zesiewiczet al.  Driving safety in Parkinson’s disease.  Neurology.  2002 Dec 10;59(11):1787-8.

 

  1. Crizzle et al. Parkinson disease and driving: An evidence-based review. Neurology. 2012;79;2067-2074.

 

  1. Ranchet et al. Impaired updating ability in drivers with Parkinson’s disease.  J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry.  2011;82:218e223.