Effects of intestinal Levodopa infusion on freezing of gait in Parkinson disease.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) infusion on different subtypes of freezing of gait (FoG) classified according to levodopa responsiveness in advanced Parkinson disease (PD) patients.

METHODS: We retrospectively assessed the presence and severity of FoG in 32 advanced PD patients based on the Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS) item 14 score. Different FoG subtypes were inferred from the score variation with oral dopaminergic medications. Modifications following long-term LCIG infusion were analysed. Motor symptoms and motor complications were assessed by UPDRS part III and IV respectively.

RESULTS: FoG related UPDRS score varied from 2.6±0.9 in OFF condition to 0.9±0.8 in the ON condition at baseline and improved to 0.6±0.7 with LCIG infusion (p=0.027). After a mean of 2.59±1.12years of continuous LCIG infusion, Pseudo-ON-FoG improved to a greater extent with LCIG infusion than with oral therapy in 12 patients (38%) and equally well in 8 patients (25%), OFF-type-FoG was controlled equally well in 8 patients (25%) and worsened slightly in 3 patients (9%). Unresponsive-FoG, present in one patient (3%), was unmodified by LCIG infusion.

CONCLUSIONS: Even though limited by the subjective simple measure of FoG, this study suggests that patients undergoing LCIG infusion maintain a good long-term control of FoG. Pseudo-on-FoG improves in a considerable percentage of patients and OFF-type-FoG remains well controlled with LCIG infusion. Further studies with a larger number of patients and objective measures of FoG are needed to confirm these findings.