Session Information
Date: Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Session Title: Parkinsonisms and Parkinson-Plus
Session Time: 1:45pm-3:15pm
Location: Agora 3 West, Level 3
Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the pathophysiology of pain in patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA).
Background: MSA is an atypical parkinsonian syndrome, characterized by a poor or absent response to levodopa associated with autonomic dysfunction, cerebellar and corticospinal tract involvement. MSA is divided into two groups; MSA-P (parkinsonism dominant) and MSA-C (cerebellar dominant). Although recent studies suggest that pain is a frequently nonmotor symptom in MSA, pain characteristics have rarely been studied. In this study, we recorded pain-related evoked potentials induced by intra-epidermal electrical stimulation in patients with MSA-P and MSA-C and investigated possible differences between the two groups.
Method: Pain-related evoked potentials were recorded in 8 patients with MSA-P (mean age, 63.3 years), 8 patients with MSA-C (62.7 years) and 12 healthy controls (59.6 years). Evoked potentials were recorded from the Cz in response to intra-epidermal electrical stimulation at the index finger and second toe. Latency of the N1 and P1 peaks was determined from the recordings at Cz. N1-P1 amplitude was measured between the N1 and P1 peaks.
Results: Major negative (N1) and positive (P1) deflections were observed after each stimulation in all subjects. The amplitudes between N1 and P1 (N1-P1 amplitudes), which are thought to originate from the anterior cingulate cortex and insula, were significantly lower in both patients with MSA-P and MSA-C than in the controls (P<0.05 for both groups). In addition, the N1-P1 amplitudes were significantly lower in patients with MSA-P than in MSA-C (P<0.05). No significant differences in N1 and P1 latencies were observed among the three groups.
Conclusion: These results suggest the existence of abnormal central processing of pain in patients with MSA. Involvement of pain processing is more severe in patients with MSA-P than in MSA-C.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
M. Takeda, F. Okada, H. Tachibana, S. Kasama, H. Yoshikawa. Pain in patients with multiple system atrophy: a pain-related evoked potential study [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2019; 34 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/pain-in-patients-with-multiple-system-atrophy-a-pain-related-evoked-potential-study/. Accessed June 14, 2025.« Back to 2019 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/pain-in-patients-with-multiple-system-atrophy-a-pain-related-evoked-potential-study/