Category: Parkinson's Disease: Pathophysiology
Objective: To evaluate the association between dysphagia and neurodegeneration of the putaminal dopaminergic system in people with early-stage treated with symptomatic therapy and advanced-stage Parkinson’s Disease (PD).
Background: Dysphagia is a common symptom of PD. We have previously demonstrated that people with early-stage drug-naive PD with swallowing difficulties have lower levels of DAT-SPECT in the putamen compared with people with PD without dysphagia.
Method: We included 276 early-treated and 13 advanced PD patients from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) database in the analysis. We assessed dysphagia using the MDS Unified PD Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) Part II, Item 2.3 (Chewing & Swallowing) ≥ 1. The differences in [123I]FP-CIT Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) levels within putamen were investigated in both people with early-stage and advanced-stage PD groups with and without dysphagia. The differences were tested using t-test.
Results: In the early-treated PD group, the prevalence of dysphagia was 18.8% (52/276) and the patients with dysphagia showed lower [123I]FP-CIT uptake in the putamen compared to those without. In the advanced PD group, the prevalence of dysphagia was 61.5% (8/13) and the patients with dysphagia showed lower [123I]FP-CIT uptake in the putamen compared to those without.
Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that dysphagia is associated with greater loss of putaminal dopaminergic terminals in people with early-stage treated with symptomatic therapy and advanced-stage PD.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
S. Polychronis, B. Ribba, G. Nasios, E. Dardiotis, G. Pagano. Dysphagia and dopaminergic neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s Disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2023; 38 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/dysphagia-and-dopaminergic-neurodegeneration-in-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed September 7, 2024.« Back to 2023 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/dysphagia-and-dopaminergic-neurodegeneration-in-parkinsons-disease/