Cortical activation and functional connectivity during locomotion tasks in Parkinson's disease with freezing of gait.

Background: Freezing of gait (FoG) is a severely disabling symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD). The cortical mechanisms underlying FoG during locomotion tasks have rarely been investigated.

Objectives: We aimed to compare the cerebral haemodynamic response during FoG-prone locomotion tasks in patients with PD and FoG (PD-FoG), patients with PD but without FoG (PD-nFoG), and healthy controls (HCs).