▲ Patients who experience hallucinations in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease have a greater risk of rapidly deteriorating cognitive function in the fronto-subcortical region, a study has found. (Photo = DB)
[메디컬투데이=최재백 기자] Patients who experienced hallucinations early in the onset of Parkinson’s disease were at greater risk of rapidly deteriorating cognitive function in the fronto-subcortical region.
A study published in Nature Mental Health found that patients who experienced hallucinations in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease had a greater risk of rapidly deteriorating cognitive function in the frontal-subcortical area.
Parkinson’s disease has been recognized as a disease in which motor function is impaired, but recent research results suggest that cognitive executive function impairment is an important factor in disease progression.
A research team from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Zurich, Switzerland, and Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, has discovered a way to diagnose cognitive decline associated with the early onset of Parkinson’s disease by observing cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. He said he had discovered a new way.
Among hallucinatory symptoms, ‘minor hallucinations’ include presence hallucinations (hallucinations in which the perception that there is someone who does not exist), movement hallucinations (hallucinations in which the perception is that something is passing through the field of vision), and dysphagia (hallucinations in which shapes such as clouds appear). hallucinations of a person’s face or other object in an obscure or patterned object).
Unlike hallucinatory symptoms that are difficult to use for early diagnosis because they usually appear in the later stages of Parkinson’s disease, mild hallucinations can appear earlier than common motor symptoms that appear in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease.
Noting this, the research team surveyed 75 patients with Parkinson’s disease between the ages of 60 and 70, and investigated whether there were changes in EEG in patients who experienced mild hallucinations and whether hallucination-related changes were associated with progressive cognitive impairment.
They asked participants if they had ever experienced mild hallucinations, performed neuropsychiatric tests to assess cognitive function, but also collected EEG data.
The neuropsychiatric examination was repeated in 68 patients after 2 years for follow-up and repeated in 54 patients after 5 years.
As a result of the study, the research team confirmed that frontal theta oscillation in Parkinson’s disease patients who experienced mild hallucinations was related to functional decline in the frontal-subcortical area.
Fronto-subcortical dysfunction is known to suggest cognitive impairment.
In addition, the research team assessed that the neuropsychiatric examination results were similar regardless of the presence or absence of mild hallucinations, indicating that the neuropsychiatric examination alone was insufficient to diagnose hallucination-related changes.
They noted that advances in robotics and virtual reality technology have made it possible to safely analyze and measure hallucinations, and that they plan to develop a method for screening high-risk patients with Parkinson’s disease who may develop hallucinations in the future through future research.
Experts said that people with Parkinson’s disease should pay close attention to signs of cognitive impairment.
Agreeing with this, the research team points out that although one in two patients with Parkinson’s disease experience hallucinations, most do not recognize hallucinations as Parkinson’s disease symptoms, or do not take light hallucinations seriously, so they tend not to inform medical staff. did.
In addition, he also mentioned that he does not inform others about the symptoms of hallucinations because he considers them to be a stigma of psychiatric problems.
They said that with this study, it is necessary to recognize the importance of hallucinatory symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease and to recognize that it is very important to share related symptoms with medical staff and family members.
Medical Today Reporter Jaebaek Choi (jaebaekchoi@naver.com)
[저작권자ⓒ 메디컬투데이. 무단전재-재배포 금지]
2023-07-15 07:02:14
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