View article

Background: Pain is common in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and can precede the diagnosis of the disease. Experimental studies and clinical evidence indicate involvement of basal ganglia and dopaminergic pathways in central pain processing.

Objective: To quantitatively assess and compare pain perception in patients with unilateral PD with and without pain and in patients with response fluctuations.

Methods: Thirty-six patients with PD (mean age, 61.8 ± 11.2 years) with predominantly unilateral disease, 15 patients with response fluctuations (mean age, 65.3 ± 10.4 years), and 28 age-matched healthy control subjects participated in the study. Subjective pain was assessed using the visual analog scale with von Frey filaments for tactile thresholds and contact thermode for warm sensation (WS) and heat pain thresholds (HPTs).

Results: Tactile and WS thresholds did not differ between patients …