Experience of diagnosis and managements for patients with primary progressive freezing of gait

Objective

The goal of this research was to evaluate the clinical characteristics of patients with primary progressive freezing of gait (PPFOG).

Patients and methods

This retrospective study enrolled 8 PPFOG patients and 10 age-matched Parkinson's disease with freezing of gait (PDFOG) patients. All patients underwent structured forms to document clinical manifestations and neuropsychological evaluations.

Result

PPFOG patients demonstrated later onset age than PDFOG patients (70.00 ± 9.97 years versus 53.30 ± 5.40 years, respectively; P < 0.05). Besides FOG (100%), the most prevalent concomitant symptoms of PPFOG patients were falling (n = 6, 75%), and fatigue (n = 5, 62.5%). More PPFOG patients had cerebrovascular risk factors and mild brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities, which were constant with the manifestations of “cerebral small vessel disease” (P = 0.0001).

Conclusion

According to this study, the majority of PPFOG patients were linked with cerebrovascular disease risk factors and mild brain MRI abnormalities. More research on larger populations is needed to better understand the potential mechanisms underlying the link between PPFOG and cerebral small vessel disease.