The Influence of Sensory Stimuli on Gait Imagery in Patients With Freezing of Gait

Completed

Conditions studied: Parkinson Disease

In brief

Background: \- Freezing of gait (FOG) is a common and very disabling symptom in people with Parkinson s disease, significantly affecting their quality of life. It has been defined as a sudden break or block in the walking motion, or as an inability to start walking. Although certain neural connections or neurological processes might contribute to FOG, more research is needed to produce consistent findings. Researchers are interested in investigating brain function involved in FOG. Objectives: \- To obtain more information on brain function in individuals with freezing of gait. Eligibility: * Individuals between the ages of 45 and 80 who have been diagnosed with Parkinson s disease. * Participants must be willing to go off their current Parkinson s disease medications for up to 12 hours at a time. Design: * Participants will be divided into two groups: those who do have freezing of gait (more than about once a day) and those who have not experienced this symptom. * The study will involve a screening visit (1 hour) and a study visit (2 hours). * During the screening visit, participants will be asked about medical history, and will have physical, neurological, memory, and walking tests. * Participants should not take their Parkinson's disease medications for 12 hours before the study visit. Participants who cannot come to the clinic safely without their medications will be allowed to stay in the hospital overnight before the visit, and should bring their medications to the study in order to take them as soon as needed after the study. * Participants will be asked to perform several tasks before the imaging study: (1) walking 10 yards back and forth down a hallway, (2) walking 10 yards back and forth while following horizontal lines on the floor, (3) walking 10 yards back and forth while listening to a metronome, and (4) being pushed back and forth in a wheelchair. * After participants perform the actual tasks, participants will be asked to imagine performing the tasks and fill out questionnaires about how well they can imagine the tasks. * Participants will be monitored with a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan while imagining the four tasks they have just performed.

Key facts

Study ID: NCT01071590
Run by: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
People needed: 45
Starts: 2010-02-01
Expected to finish: 2014-01-03
Last updated by the study team: 2019-12-09

Who can join

Age: 40 and older, up to 80. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may not qualify if…

Any active psychiatric disease or evidence of dementia
Feel uncomfortable being in small, enclosed spaces (claustrophobia) or unable to lie still for an hour, e.g. due to back pain
Pallidotomy or implanted electrodes and generator for deep brain stimulation
Pregnancy
Surgically or traumatically implanted foreign bodies such as a pacemaker, implanted medical pump, implanted hearing aids, metal plate in the skull, or metal implant in the skull or eyes (other than dental appliances or fillings) that may pose a physical hazard during MRI.
Inability to provide informed consent
Unable to walk a 10 meter distance even with help of an assisting device
Unable or unwilling to withhold PD medications for 12 hours prior to visit 1 and visit 2
Have a neurologic condition other than PD, such as a brain tumor, stroke, head trauma or a vascular malformation
Have a dysfunction of vision, such as severe loss of visual acuity, that impairs his/her ability to perform the visual imagery task or to appreciate the virtual reality environment during the treadmill test

Where it is running

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike — Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.