Oxycodone or Higher Dose of Levodopa for the Treatment of Parkinsonian Central Pain: OXYDOPA Trial.

Background: Among the different types of pain related to Parkinson's disease (PD), parkinsonian central pain (PCP) is the most disabling.

Objectives: We investigated the analgesic efficacy of two therapeutic strategies (opioid with oxycodone- prolonged-release (PR) and higher dose of levodopa/benserazide) compared with placebo in patients with PCP.

Methods: OXYDOPA was a randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled, multicenter parallel-group trial run at 15 centers within the French NS-Park network.

Trial of Lixisenatide in Early Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Lixisenatide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist used for the treatment of diabetes, has shown neuroprotective properties in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease.

Methods: In this phase 2, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, we assessed the effect of lixisenatide on the progression of motor disability in persons with Parkinson's disease. Participants in whom Parkinson's disease was diagnosed less than 3 years earlier, who were receiving a stable dose of medications to treat symptoms, and who did not have motor complications were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to daily subcutaneous lixisenatide or placebo for 12 months, followed by a 2-month washout period.

Immunopathogenesis and proposed clinical score for identifying Kelch-like protein-11 encephalitis.

In this study, we report the clinical features of Kelch-like protein 11 antibody-associated paraneoplastic neurological syndrome, design and validate a clinical score to facilitate the identification of patients that should be tested for Kelch-like protein 11 antibodies, and examine in detail the nature of the immune response in both the brain and the tumour samples for a better characterization of the immunopathogenesis of this condition. The presence of Kelch-like protein 11 antibodies was retrospectively assessed in patients referred to the French Reference Center for paraneoplastic neurological syndrome and autoimmune encephalitis with (i) antibody-negative paraneoplastic neurological syndrome [limbic encephalitis ( = 105), cerebellar degeneration ( = 33)] and (ii) antibody-positive paraneoplastic neurological syndrome [Ma2-Ab encephalitis ( = 34), antibodies targeting N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis with teratoma ( = 49)]. Additionally, since 1 January 2020, patients were prospectively screened for Kelch-like protein 11 antibodies as new usual clinical practice.

Long-term treatment of transthyretin familial amyloid polyneuropathy with tafamidis: a clinical and neurophysiological study.

Tafamidis is a transthyretin (TTR) stabilizer recently approved to slow the neurologic impairment in TTR familial amyloid polyneuropathy (TTR-FAP). The pivotal studies on Tafamidis reported encouraging results on the short term, in the early onset Val30Met-TTR-FAP patients at an early stage of the neuropathy. However, the effect of the drug in the non-Val30Met patients, at a more advanced stage of the disease and on the long term, is less known.

Characterization of Pain in Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy.

Unlabelled: Familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) caused by transthyretin (TTR) mutation is a small-fiber predominant polyneuropathy, exposing patients with TTR-FAP to development of neuropathic pain. However, the painful nature of TTR-FAP has never been specifically addressed. In this study, we compared 2 groups of 16 patients with either painless or painful TTR-FAP with regard to various clinical and neurophysiologic variables, including laser evoked potential (LEP) recording and quantitative sensory testing.

Somatosensory evoked potentials in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy.

Purpose: Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) offer complementary results to those of nerve conduction studies and contribute to the electrodiagnostic criteria of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy.

Methods: We performed nerve conduction studies and SEPs in patients with symmetrical motor weakness, areflexia, and/or sensory disturbances lasting for at least 8 weeks. We determined two groups according to the electrodiagnostic criteria of the European Federation of Neurological Societies.

Association of antibodies to ganglioside complexes and conduction blocks in axonal Guillain-Barré syndrome presenting as acute motor conduction block neuropathy.

A close relationship between acute motor conduction block neuropathy and antibodies against the complex of GM1 and GalNAc-GD1a has been reported. This study investigates the hypothesis that conduction block at the early phase of axonal Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is also associated with such ganglioside complexes. Sera were obtained from seven French patients with initial evidence of isolated conduction blocks that resolved or progressed to acute motor axonal neuropathy.