Mohammed Abouelsoud1, Prince Kazadi MD2, David Mishelevich MD PhD1, Moise Lubendo MD2
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a central nervous system disorder characterized by movement abnormalities such as tremors, rigidity, and gait freezing. The major hypothesis for the cause of PD is the reduction in dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, a region in the middle of the brain. The main association tract connecting the substantial nigra to the spinal cord and motor cortex is called the corticospinal tract. The corticospinal tract has been identified to have impairment in PD patients and most neuromuscular disorders. An area of research that is being established and expanded upon for the treatment of PD is noninvasive brain stimulation using electrical stimulation with pulses called Transcranial Pulsed Current Stimulation (tPCS). A novel form of tPCS is being developed named Amplitude-Modulated tPCS (am-tPCS) where the polarity of the pulsed current being delivered between the two electrodes is being reversed over time from positive to negative and vice-versa. We evaluated stimulation of a 76-year old female with Parkinson’s Disease and resting tremor along the corticospinal tract with am-tPCS while using video analysis to compare the tremor pre and post stimulation over the course of five days. At the end of the five-day period there was an 80% reduction in tremor amplitude and a 73.5% reduction in the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) score.