Exploring risk factors for stuttering development in Parkinson disease after deep brain stimulation.

BACKGROUND: Stuttering is a speech disorder with disruption of verbal fluency, occasionally present in Parkinson's disease (PD). PD co-incident stuttering may either worsen or improve after Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). METHODS: Sixteen out of 453 PD patients (3.5%) exhibited stuttering after DBS (PD-S) and were compared with a group of patients without stuttering (PD-NS) using non-parametric statistics. RESULTS: After DBS, stuttering worsened in 3 out of 4 patients with co-incidental stuttering. Most PD-S underwent subthalamic (STN) DBS, but 4 were implanted in the globus pallidus (GPi). Nine out of 16 PD-S (56.3%) reported a positive familial history for stuttering compared to none of the PD-NS. PD-S were mainly male (81.3%) with slight worse motor features compared to PD-NS. CONCLUSION: Herein, we describe a group of PD patients developing stuttering after DBS and report the presence of a positive familial history for stuttering as the most relevant risk factor, suggesting a possible underlying genetic cause. The fact that stuttering occurred after either STN or GPi DBS is an argument against the impact of medication reduction on stuttering.

Learning More from Finger Tapping in Parkinson's Disease: Up and Down from Dyskinesia to Bradykinesia.

The finger tapping test evaluates bradykinesia, focusing on decrement in rate, amplitude, or both with repetitive action. Vertical positioning of the hands during this task may also be clinically relevant. We developed a "TAP score," measuring the vertical level above the lap where the patient performs the finger tapping ranging from 1 (task performed with the hand close to the lap) to 4 (above the head). In this pilot study, we retrospectively applied the TAP score in addition to usual motor scales during acute levodopa challenge in 123 PD patients (of whom 88 presented l-dopa-induced dyskinesia [LID]). TAP ON was higher than TAP OFF. Patients with LID presented higher TAP ON. TAP ON was related to LID severity, whereas TAP OFF was inversely related to the OFF motor symptoms. The TAP score may be a measure of proximal movement amplitude representing an easy method to evaluate defective or excessive motor output in patients with advanced disease.

Sindrome de Villaret y paraganglioma cervical: Reporte de caso con consideraciones especiales / Villaret Syndrom and cervical paraganglioma: Case report with special considerations

El síndrome de Villaret está caracterizado por una serie de alteraciones de la unión craniocervical, con un compromiso específico de los nervios craneales IX, X, XI y XII, así como la cadena simpática cervical. Desde la primera descripción realizada por Maurice Villaret, se han descrito algunos casos, donde la gran mayoría de las lesiones están localizadas en el espacio retrofaringeo o retroparotideo, y usualmente corresponde a tumores, lesiones vasculares o procesos infecciosos. Presentamos el caso de una paciente con un síndrome de Villaret secundario a un paraganglioma cervical.

Villaret's syndrome is a clinical condition characterized by a compromise of the craniocervical junction, with specific involvement of the cranial nerves IX, X, XI and XII as well as the cervical sympathetic chain. Since the first description by Maurice Villaret, some cases have been described, in which the vast majority of the lesions are located in the retropharyngeal or retroparotid space, and usually correspond to tumors, vascular lesions or infectious processes. We present the case of a female patient with Villaret's syndrome secondary to a cervical paraganglioma.