Parkinson's Disease Clinical Trials in Minneapolis, MN

When a patient gets DBS surgery, the neurosurgeon makes a hole in the skull through which they can put the DBS lead down in deep parts of the brain that help control movement. For this study, research participants will also have an ECoG strip put through the same hole (no extra holes are being made for research purposes). The ECoG strip is a little less than half an inch wide, and a little more than 2.5 inches long. It is very, very thin; it is a thin plastic film with flat metal sensors that can record the electrical activity in the brain. The ECoG strips are FDA approved. The neurosurgeon will slide the ECoG strip under the skull but on top of the brain, over another area of the brain that helps control hand/arm movement (motor cortex), so that the study team can record the activity there. The study team will record brain activity from the DBS lead and the ECoG strip simultaneously to try to understand how the brain communicates and sends information. The study team will check that the ECoG strip is in the right place by delivering a very small electrical pulse to the wrist. If the ECoG strip is in the correct location, this electrical pulse will show up on the brain activity being recorded by the sensors in the ECoG strip. Fluoroscopy (i.e. X-ray images that can be taken quickly) will also be done at the end of the surgery to help confirm the location of the ECoG strip. During fluoroscopy, an X-ray beam is used to track a contrast agent ("X-ray dye") through the body, so that the body can be seen in detail. This involves some radiation exposure for the participant, so this is described in the consent form. Patients who want to sign up for the study will not be allowed to do so if they have had other radiation exposures within the past year that would go over a safe limit when added to the amount of radiation expected from the fluoroscopy for this study. Read Less

This protocol will characterize the effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) location (both adverse and beneficial) on motor signs in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). This information can be used to inform future DBS protocols to tailor stimulation to the specific needs of a patient. If targeted dorsal GP stimulation is shown to significantly improve motor features that are typically resistant to dopamine replacement therapy, these experiments will likely have major impact on clinical practice by providing a potential strategy to these medically intractable symptoms. Read Less

Balance problems and falls are among the most common complaints in Veterans with Parkinson's Disease (PD), but there are no effective treatments and the ability to measure balance and falls remains quite poor. This study uses wearable sensors to measure balance and uses deep brain stimulation electrodes to measure electric signals from the brain in Veterans with PD. The investigators hope to use this data to better understand the brain pathways underlying balance problems in PD so that new treatments to improve balance and reduce falls in Veterans with PD can be designed. Read Less

This study is a Phase 3 multi-site, randomized, evaluator-masked, study of endurance treadmill exercise on changes in the Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) Part III score at 12 months among persons with early stage Parkinson disease. 370 participants will be randomly assigned to 2 groups: 1)60-65% HRmax or 2)80-85% HRmax 4 times per week. The primary objective is to test whether the progression of the signs of Parkinson's disease is attenuated at 12 months in among persons who have not initiated medication for Parkinson Disease (PD) when they perform high-intensity endurance treadmill exercise. Read Less

This study will enroll participants with idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and healthy controls for the purpose of preparing for a clinical trial of neuroprotective treatments against synucleinopathies. Read Less

Sixty patients will be enrolled in this study who are treated for Parkinson's disease (PD) with bilateral deep brain stimulation of subthalamic nucleus (STN) or globus pallidus (GP), who have a pre- operative 7 Tesla MRI including diffusion tensor imaging for tractography and a postoperative head CT for electrode localization, and in whom at least 3 months have passed since activation of their neurostimulators, for stabilization of clinical stimulator settings. Using their MRI and CT, the investigators will construct patient-specific models of electrical current spread to neuroanatomical tar- gets surrounding the electrode. Then applying nonlinear (particle swarm) optimization, patient- specific stimulator settings will be designed to maximally or minimally activate specific path- ways. In STN DBS: pedunculopallidal vs. pallidopeduncular pathways. In GP DBS: pallidopeduncular pathways at its origin in GP pars interna (GPi) vs. inhibitory afferents to GPi (from GP pars externa GPe). All stimulation falls within the the FDA-approved range for DBS for PD. Read Less