Study of EEG spectral bands from Parkinson's disease patients treated with transcranial magnetic stimulation

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a degenerative condition of the Central Nervous System, that is related with the loss of the neurotransmitter, Dopamine. The main symptoms are: tremors especially on limbs, jaw and face; the postural instability and loss of control of coordination and balance. In Portugal there are twenty thousand people that suffer from Parkinson’s disease, and ten thousand in Finland. Usually these people take medication to reduce the symptoms, such as Levodopa (L-dopa) and they also have problems walking. The study intended to verify if the technique Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) may be an alternative treatment for Parkinson's disease patients. These patients have the activity of beta band higher than normal, and it is supposed to be lower after treatment. For that, electroencephalogram (EEG) data of 26 patients were acquired and divided into two groups: one that would receive the stimulation and the other would be its control. The study was designed to be a random, double-blind study. The PD patients included 40-80 years old, were classified according to UK-PD-Brain-Bank-criteria, Hoehn-Yahr-stage 2 to 4; also, these patients were medicated with a total dose of Levodopa or other Dopamine agonist agents of equal or more than 300 mg or more revealed problems with walking (taking 6 or more seconds to walk a 10 meter distance). Standard tests were performed before and during this study, to test walking capacity of patients. The intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation (iTBS) was applied to the Motor Cortex and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) of patients belonging to the experimental group. While processing the EEG data, the Independent Component Analysis (ICA), as well as Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) were used to calculate the band power in the frequency domain. However the hypothesis was not fully confirmed, since the results showed no significant differences between the sham group and the group that received stimulation as for the activity of Beta band was concerned.

Date of Award	May 2012
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Hannu Eskola (Supervisor) & Atte Joutsen (Supervisor)