Visuomotor characteristics and differences between the tremor-dominant and akinetic-rigid type of Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

The purpose of carrying out this research is to evaluate the characteristics and differences of visuomotor in Bender–Gestalt II performance among Parkinson’s disease of type tremor-dominant and akinetic-rigid. The possibility of predicting Parkinson’s disease type based on Bender–Gestalt II performance was also assessed. A movement disorder specialist diagnosed all the patients and confirmed Parkinson’s disease in them. The patients were classified into different types of Parkinson’s disease under the observation of movement specialists. This classification was based on the patient’s initial descriptions and dominant symptoms. The patient-related information and the characteristics of visuomotor were collected from Bender–Gestalt II and interview. There was a total of 15 tremor-dominant and 17 akinetic-rigid patients. The average age of patients suffering from tremor type disease was 68.33 years and for akinetic type patients 68.70 years, respectively. There were no statistically significant results between the type, socioeconomic status, educational status, sex, and duration of Parkinson’s disease. The akinetic-rigid type evidently impaired visuomotor function, visuomotor memory, and the timely reaction of visuomotor function. The visuomotor abilities kept preserved in the tremor type. The akinetic-rigid type also occupies more neurological indicators as compared to the tremor-dominant type (p > 0.01). It is possible to predict the type of Parkinson’s disease based on the Bender–Gestalt II analysis (sig = 0.00). The impairment of different visuomotor abilities in akinetic-rigid type can be related to the fact that they have more damage in globus pallidus, prefrontal cortex, visuo-perceptive functions, and in specific executive functions than tremor-dominant type.

Keywords:

• Akinetic-rigid
• Bender–Gestalt
• diagnosis
• Parkinson’s disease
• tests
• tremor-dominant
• visuomotor