Affiliations: Department of Neurology, Osaka University Graduate
School of Medicine, Japan
Note: [] D-4, Department of Neurology, Osaka University Graduate School
of Medicine, 2-2, Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. Tel.: +81 6 879
3571; Fax: +81 6 879 3579; E-Mail: abe@neurol.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
Abstract: {\it Purpose:} Fatigue is a complaint frequently encountered among
patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), however, the pathophysiological
mechanism remains unclear. {\it Methods:} We evaluated fatigue in 26 patients
clinically diagnosed to have PD (16 men, 10 women) and age- and sex- matched 26
controls (16 men, 10 women) without neurological deficits by using a fatigue
scale. In addition to neurological and neuropsychological examinations, all
patients underwent MRI and SPECT using 99mTc-HMPAO. {\it Results:} Patients
with PD had normal cognitive function as judged by the MMSE, but showed
significantly high scores with the fatigue and depression scales in comparison
to controls (p<0.05). There was no significant correlation
between the depression scale and the fatigue scale, or between the degree of
disability and the fatigue scale in patients with PD, although a significant
correlation existed between the depression scale and the fatigue scale in
controls. With SPECT, a significant correlation was found between the fatigue
scale and the reduction of perfusion in the frontal lobe
(p<0.05) in patients with PD. {\it Conclusions:} The present
study suggested that sense of fatigue in patients with PD might be associated
with frontal lobe dysfunction.
