Cognitive Fluctuation Scale in Non-demented Patients with Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Cognitive fluctuations (CF) are spontaneous alterations in cognition, attention, and arousal, which are core clinical features in Lewy body dementia. A 4-item scale from the Dementia Cognitive Fluctuation Scale (4-item DCFS) is used in demented patients to identify CF. However, this has not been applied to non-demented patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Brain Bleeding Associated With Cavitation During Focused Ultrasound Ablation.

Background And Importance: Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) ablation is a new therapeutic tool for movement disorders. Side effects after treatment are mild to moderate, and treatment-related severe complications are rare. Technical intraprocedural hurdles such as inertial cavitation can be associated with adverse events.

Focused ultrasound therapy for movement disorders.

Functional neurosurgery, such as deep brain stimulation, is an established therapeutic option for many patients with movement disorders. MR-guided focused ultrasound has emerged as an incisionless and minimally invasive neurofunctional treatment. This new approach is based on the delivery of high-intensity ultrasound energy to produce therapeutic thermoablation.

Apolipoprotein E genotypes and amyloid burden associated with cognitive decline in non-demented Parkinson's disease patients: A preliminary analysis.

Background: Cognitive impairment is a common non-motor manifestation in Parkinson's disease (PD). Amyloidosis seems to accelerate the onset of dementia in PD. The Apolipoprotein (APOE) ε4 genotype is linked to amyloid aggregation and has been suggested to be a candidate for development of PD dementia, while other APOE alleles have been less investigated.

"Neuropathological function estimations": a user-friendly module for analyzing neural activity in neurological disorders.

Motivation: This work introduces the Neuropathological Function Estimations software, designed to facilitate the study of neuronal activity alterations in neurological disorders without requiring programming expertise. With its user-friendly interface, researchers can input various data types to generate subject-specific functional brain models and decode neuropathological influences.

Results: The software's capabilities are validated through its application to Alzheimer's disease, providing insights into neuronal excitability and disease mechanisms.

Comparative Study of Focused Ultrasound Unilateral Thalamotomy and Subthalamotomy for Medication-Refractory Parkinson's Disease Tremor.

Background: Unilateral focused ultrasound ventral intermediate thalamotomy (Vim-FUS) is effective in treating Parkinson's disease (PD) tremor. Ultrasound ablation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-FUS) has demonstrated efficacy in improving all cardinal motor features of PD, including tremor.

Objective: To compare the efficacy in parkinsonian tremor control between Vim-FUS and STN-FUS.

Skull Density Ratio as Arm-Allocation Parameter for a Controlled Focused Ultrasound Trial in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: MR-guided focused ultrasound (FUS) thermoablation is an established therapy for movement disorders. FUS candidates must meet a predefined threshold of skull density ratio (SDR), a parameter that accounts for the efficiency in reaching ablative temperatures. Randomized sham-controlled trials to provide definitive therapeutic evidence employ pure randomization of subjects into active treatment or control arms.

Staged Bilateral MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound Subthalamotomy for Parkinson Disease.

Importance: Unilateral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided focused ultrasound subthalamotomy (FUS-STN) improves cardinal motor features among patients with asymmetrical Parkinson disease (PD). The feasibility of bilateral FUS-STN is as yet unexplored.

Objective: To assess the safety and effectiveness of staged bilateral FUS-STN to treat PD.

Cognitive Reserve in Parkinson's Disease without Dementia: β-Amyloid and Metabolic Assessment.

Background: Cognitive reserve (CR) is the mismatch between preserved cognition and neuropathological damage. Amyloidopathy in Parkinson's disease (PD) could be associated with faster progression to dementia, but the putative protective effect of CR is unknown.

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of CR on β-amyloid burden and brain metabolism in non-demented PD subjects.

Brain hypometabolism in non-demented microtubule-associated protein tau H1 carriers with Parkinson's disease.

Background And Purpose: The microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) H1 homozygosity (H1/H1 haplotype) is a genetic risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease (PD). MAPT H1 homozygosity has been associated with conversion to PD; however, results are conflicting since some studies did not find a strong influence. Cortical hypometabolism is associated with cognitive impairment in PD.

Unilateral focused ultrasound subthalamotomy in early Parkinson's disease: a pilot study.

Background: Unilateral focused ultrasound subthalamotomy (FUS-STN) improves motor features of Parkinson's disease (PD) in moderately advanced patients. The less invasive nature of FUS makes its early application in PD feasible. We aim to assess the safety and efficacy of unilateral FUS-STN in patients with PD of less than 5 years from diagnosis (early PD).

BBB opening with focused ultrasound in nonhuman primates and Parkinson's disease patients: Targeted AAV vector delivery and PET imaging.

Intracerebral vector delivery in nonhuman primates has been a major challenge. We report successful blood-brain barrier opening and focal delivery of adeno-associated virus serotype 9 vectors into brain regions involved in Parkinson's disease using low-intensity focus ultrasound in adult macaque monkeys. Openings were well tolerated with generally no associated abnormal magnetic resonance imaging signals.

Prospective Long-term Follow-up of Focused Ultrasound Unilateral Subthalamotomy for Parkinson Disease.

Background And Objectives: Unilateral magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound subthalamotomy (FUS-STN) has been shown to improve the cardinal motor features of Parkinson disease (PD). Whether this effect is sustained is not known. This study aims to report the long-term outcome of patients with PD treated with unilateral FUS-STN.

Striatal Blood-Brain Barrier Opening in Parkinson's Disease Dementia: A Pilot Exploratory Study.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) exhibits a high prevalence of dementia as disease severity and duration progress. Focused ultrasound (FUS) has been applied for transient blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening of cortical regions in neurodegenerative disorders. The striatum is a primary target for delivery of putative therapeutic agents in PD.

Neuroimaging signatures predicting motor improvement to focused ultrasound subthalamotomy in Parkinson's disease.

Subthalamotomy using transcranial magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (tcMRgFUS) is a novel and promising treatment for Parkinson's Disease (PD). In this study, we investigate if baseline brain imaging features can be early predictors of tcMRgFUS-subthalamotomy efficacy, as well as which are the post-treatment brain changes associated with the clinical outcomes. Towards this aim, functional and structural neuroimaging and extensive clinical data from thirty-five PD patients enrolled in a double-blind tcMRgFUS-subthalamotomy clinical trial were analyzed.

Cerebral metabolic pattern associated with progressive parkinsonism in non-human primates reveals early cortical hypometabolism.

Dopaminergic denervation in patients with Parkinson's disease is associated with changes in brain metabolism. Cerebral in-vivo mapping of glucose metabolism has been studied in severe stable parkinsonian monkeys, but data on brain metabolic changes in early stages of dopaminergic depletion of this model is lacking. Here, we report cerebral metabolic changes associated with progressive nigrostriatal lesion in the pre-symptomatic and symptomatic stages of the progressive 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) monkey model of Parkinson's Disease.

Functional Topography of the Human Subthalamic Nucleus: Relevance for Subthalamotomy in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is considered a key structure in motor, behavioral, and emotional control. Although identification of the functional topography of the STN has therapeutic implications in the treatment of the motor features of Parkinson's disease (PD), the details of its functional and somatotopic organization in humans are not well understood.

Objective: The aim of this study was to characterize the functional organization of the STN and its correlation with the motor outcomes induced by subthalamotomy.

Bilateral staged magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy for the treatment of essential tremor: a case series study.

Background: Unilateral magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (FUS) thalamotomy is efficacious for the treatment of medically refractory essential tremor (ET). Viability of bilateral FUS ablation is unexplored.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with medically refractory ET and previously treated with unilateral FUS thalamotomy at least 5 months before underwent bilateral treatment.

Lesion 3D modeling in transcranial MR-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy.

Transcranial magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (tMRgFUS) allows to perform incisionless thermoablation of deep brain structures. This feature makes it a very useful tool for the treatment of multiple neurological and psychiatric disorders. Currently, feedback of the thermoablation process is based on peak temperature readings assessed on real-time two-dimensional MRI thermometry.

Present and future of subthalamotomy in the management of Parkinson´s disease: a systematic review.

The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is known to be involved in the pathophysiology of Parkinson´s disease and by reducing its abnormal activity, normal output of basal ganglia can be restored along with improvement in PD cardinal motor features. Deep brain stimulation of the STN is currently the main surgical procedure for PD with motor complications, but lesioning can be an alternative. Here, the authors systematically review the current evidence regarding subthalamotomy both with radiofrequency and, more recently, with focused ultrasound (FUS) for the treatment of PD.

Blood-brain barrier opening with focused ultrasound in Parkinson's disease dementia.

MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS), in combination with intravenous microbubble administration, has been applied for focal temporary BBB opening in patients with neurodegenerative disorders and brain tumors. MRgFUS could become a therapeutic tool for drug delivery of putative neurorestorative therapies. Treatment for Parkinson's disease with dementia (PDD) is an important unmet need.