Pain in parkinson patients

Abstract

Pain is one of the most important non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease that should be taken into consideration carefully in these types of patients. Indeed, it is the most bothersome symptom ranked after slowness, tremor, and stiffness that is extremely distressful for patients. Pain often remains undetected, and it is a major cause of heath reduction related to the quality of life. Cognitiveimpaired patients may have a compromised self-pain evaluation that does not allow them to objectively report their discomfort, and as result the physician is not able to select the most suitable therapy. Recent neuropsychological studies have underlined the importance of evaluating the cognitive status of the patients in order to identify those who have greater risk of cognitive impairment to facilitate intervention studies. Importantly, pain in PD is frequently under-recognized and is often undetected in about 40 % of patients. Experimental pain studies are also an important challenge in order to analyze the functioning of pain-related areas and to understand the target of neuropathological changes in order to address individualized approaches.