Temperature sensation in Parkinson’s disease measured by quantitative sensory testing: a single-center, case-control study

Abstract

Background

The pathophysiology of abnormal temperature sensation in Parkinson’s disease (PD) remains unclear. Abnormal thermal detection does not seem to depend on the dopaminergic deficit, suggesting that other systems play a role in these changes, probably both central and peripheral.

Methods

We measured thermal detection thresholds (TDT) using quantitative sensory testing (QST) in 28 patients with PD and compared them with 15 healthy controls.

Results

Of 28 patients, 21% had increased TDT according to the normative data. TDT were higher on the dominant side. No correlation between TDT and disease duration, severity of motor impairment, and dopaminergic therapy was observed. 50% of the patients had difficulty differentiating between warm and cold stimuli, as TDT were within the normal range in most of these patients.

Conclusions

Twenty-one percent of the patients in our study had increased TDT according to the normative data. Abnormal thermal detection was more pronounced on the dominant side. Abnormal differentiation between the thermal stimuli suggest impaired central processing of thermal information.

Keywords:

• Parkinson’s disease
• quantitative sensory testing
• cold detection threshold
• warm detection threshold

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the European Regional Development Fund – Project ENOCH (No. Z.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000868); and by Ministry of Health, Czech Republic - conceptual development of research organization (FNOL, 00098892).