BACKGROUND: Pain is a prominent nonmotor symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD) but has not been well studied. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to assess thermal experience and emotional content, as well as side-to-side sensory differences in PD "off" and "on" dopaminergic therapy following thermal cutaneous stimulation. DESIGN: Cross-sectional design. SETTING: University teaching hospital. METHODS: Twelve PD subjects experiencing motor fluctuations but no pain symptoms and 13 healthy controls participated in the study. Heat pain and emotional content were assessed using a thermode and visual analog scales in medication on and off states in PD and without medication in healthy controls. RESULTS: There were no side to side differences in heat pain intensity or between PD medication on state and PD medication off state. Unexpectedly, PD subjects reported a higher degree of unpleasantness in response to heat pain while on medication compared with the off state. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the perception of heat pain is mediated, at least in part, by nondopaminergic systems in PD, while dopamine might modulate the affective component of pain.
BACKGROUND:Pain is a prominent nonmotor symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD) but has not been well studied. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to assess thermal experience and emotional content, as well as side-to-side sensory differences in PD "off" and "on" dopaminergic therapy following thermal cutaneous stimulation. DESIGN: Cross-sectional design. SETTING: University teaching hospital. METHODS: Twelve PD subjects experiencing motor fluctuations but no pain symptoms and 13 healthy controls participated in the study. Heat pain and emotional content were assessed using a thermode and visual analog scales in medication on and off states in PD and without medication in healthy controls. RESULTS: There were no side to side differences in heat pain intensity or between PD medication on state and PD medication off state. Unexpectedly, PD subjects reported a higher degree of unpleasantness in response to heat pain while on medication compared with the off state. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the perception of heat pain is mediated, at least in part, by nondopaminergic systems in PD, while dopamine might modulate the affective component of pain.
Authors: Susanne Becker; Marta Ceko; Mytsumi Louis-Foster; Nathaniel M Elfassy; Marco Leyton; Yoram Shir; Petra Schweinhardt Journal: PLoS One Date: 2013-11-13 Impact factor: 3.240