New Findings in Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease
 |
November 10, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Cardiff University reports that the motor function of patients suffering with Parkinson’s disease can be improved through neural brain training.
Research led by Cardiff University assessed whether patients with Parkinson’s disease could alter their physical ability and motor function by imagining complex movements.
Patients undergoing training with the research team were monitored in MRI scanners, and were asked to squeeze a hand as the team mapped the region of the brain responsible for controlling that movement.
They were then asked to imagine making complex movements as a way of activating the brain centres that control the body’s motor skills.
Corresponding increases in brain activity were tracked on the team’s gauges, and with practice, patients were able to increase and decrease levels of activity at will through thought alone.
Professor David Linden of Cardiff University, who led the team of researchers, stressed that although this treatment cannot act as a cure to Parkinson’s sufferers, it could act as a new means for a better quality of life.
“Self-regulation of brain activity in humans based on real-time feedback is emerging as a powerful technique,” he said. “In this study we assessed whether patients with Parkinson’s disease are able to alter their brain activity to improve motor function. We wanted them to activate the brain regions associated with movement through the force of their mind.”
The research team now hope to perform a larger and more randomised clinical trial, to prove their findings on a larger and more dependable scale.
Claire Bale of the Parkinson’s UK research team agreed, stating that although these results are exciting, “it’s still very early days … we need much larger, in-depth studies to help us understand the potential of these techniques for Parkinson’s”.
The study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, was conducted by a collaboration of those from Cardiff University and scientists and doctors from North Wales, London and the Netherlands.
Drugs remain the current predominant means of controlling the symptoms of Parkinson’s, while surgical options are available to some suffering with certain symptoms.
This however, is a promising development, with the five patients whose received neurofeedback treatment now able “to increase activity in brain networks important for movements … resulting in an overall improvement in motor speed – in this case, finger tapping”.
By Chloe Nicholas
[Image courtesy of Rosie O’Beirne]
