Effects of Behavioral Interventions Based on Sensory Cues on FOG in PD After STN-DBS

Freezing of gait (FOG) leads to falling and is one of the major determinants of quality of life and prognosis in Parkinson's disease (PD). Previous evidence suggests that subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) improve off-medication FOG but not on-medication FOG in patients with PD. Furthermore, off-mediation FOG persist or even worsen after STN-DBS in some PD patients. Although visual and auditory cues are known to improve FOG in research setting, it is unclear whether these cues are effective for FOG in real clinical setting. Most previous studies have used wearable devices to use sensory cues, but such devices are difficult to apply in clinical practice. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of behavioral interventions based on visual and auditory cues in patients with PD after bilateral STN-DBS. Participants undergo clinical evaluations including the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), Unified Parkinson 's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Freezing of Gait-Questionnaire (FOG-Q), and the average number of falling over the last week. Then, participants receive behavior intervention training that includes how to apply visual and auditory cues to freezing of gait in real clinical practice. To investigate the education effect, FOG-Q and the average number of falling over the last week are repetitively assessed at 2-week and 4-week follow-ups using a phone call.