New insights into the hallucinations of Parkinson’s disease

Monday, May 3, 2021 (HealthDay News)- Parkinson’s disease Widely seen as a movement disorder, it can cause a range of symptoms, including: Hallucinations.. Now, new research reveals what is happening in the brain during these disorders.

This study focused on patients with Parkinson’s disease who have so-called presence hallucinations-the false sensation that others are nearby.

Researchers have found that a group of Parkinson’s patients can be hallucinated using a very simple “robot ghost test” with a robotic arm that touches the patient’s back.

It, in turn, allowed them to map brain Activities that appear to underlie hallucinations-including disruption of some connections between the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain.

Experts said findings-reported in the journal on April 28 Scientific Translation Medicine- It can lead to a better understanding of the hallucinations of Parkinson’s disease.

According to researchers, one of the ultimate hopes is to develop an objective way to diagnose and delve into the hallucinations of individual patients.

Continue

Diagnosis now generally relies on patients talking to their doctors about hallucinations-many people are hesitant to do it.

As a result, the problem has not been fully diagnosed, says Fosco Bernasconi, one of the researchers in the study.

“Our robotic procedures provide the opportunity to investigate specific hallucinations in real time in a fully controlled environment and conditions,” said Bernasconi, senior scientist at the Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne in Geneva. Says.

Parkinson’s disease affects nearly one million people in the United States alone, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation.

It involves an abnormal accumulation of a protein called α-synuclein in the brain.Over time, the brain loses the cells it produces Dopamine, A chemical that helps regulate movements and emotional responses.

The most visible symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are exercise-related, such as tremors, limb tremor, and coordination disorder.

“But Parkinson’s disease is complicated, and it’s more than a movement disorder,” said James Beck, chief scientific officer of the nonprofit Parkinson’s Disease Foundation.

According to Beck, the disease is one of the brains, due to memory and thinking problems. depression And anxiety, For speech disabilities, vision And Smell sensation..

Continue

Next, there are symptoms of mental illness-Beck said it is a “difficult word” for people to digest. Hallucinations fall into that category, but problems such as presence hallucinations are considered “mild.”

“People are aware that they have them,” Beck said. “They are completely convincing.”

A patient involved in a new study, Joseph Ray of Geneva, began to hallucinate after surgery for Parkinson’s disease. He will have a recurring sensation, either behind him or on his side, that he was accompanied by one or more people.

That said, Ray isn’t bothered by it.

“I call them my guardian angels,” he said. “They don’t hurt me. They chase me. I’m not alone, so I’m relieved in a way.”

Another patient, Maurizio de Revrano, who lives in Martigny, Switzerland, experienced not only visual hallucinations, but also hallucinations that felt like a “ghost of her mother.”

“I see some spiders falling from the ceiling through the corners of my eyes,” he said. “I know they aren’t there, but instinctively, I’m always forced to look around.”

Continue

In a separate study of 30 additional patients and a group of healthy adults, Bernasconi’s team used MRI scans to examine how brain activity patterns were associated with the presence of hallucinations.

“Hopefully, this will allow more research to better understand these hallucinations, and will probably lead to new treatments,” Beck said.

He pointed out that hallucinations can herald more serious psychotic symptoms, including delusions.

Therefore, it is important to get rid of the “stigma” around hallucinations, Beck said, and patients and doctors talk about them.

For more information

The Parkinson’s Foundation Psychotic symptoms..

Source: Fosco Bernasconi, PhD, Senior Scientist, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. James Beck, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Parkinson’s Foundation, New York City. Scientific translation medicine, April 28, 2021, online