Local Field Potential Correlates of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease

Intracranial Local Field Potential (LFP) Correlates of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease

This prospective observational cohort study aims to investigate whether intracranial Local Field Potentials (LFPs) recorded from implanted Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) devices are associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). The study will focus on paroxysmal anxiety, impulse control disorders, and hallucinations.

Twenty participants with Parkinson's disease and an implanted Medtronic Percept DBS device will be recruited. Participants will complete behavioural and clinical assessments and will use the event-marking functionality of the DBS device to record symptom episodes over a monitoring period of approximately 120 days. Brain activity will be passively recorded during this period.

The study will evaluate relationships between LFP signals, symptom occurrence, behavioural task performance, and clinical symptom severity measures. Machine learning approaches will be used to identify electrophysiological patterns associated with neuropsychiatric symptom states at an individual level.

The findings may improve understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric symptoms in Parkinson's disease and support the future development of personalised adaptive neuromodulation approaches.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age ≥ 18 years
• A diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease
• A diagnosis of hallucinations, impulse control disorder, or panic disorder (episodic anxiety)
• Previous bilateral DBS implantation with a Medtronic Percept device as part of clinical care

Exclusion Criteria:

• Non-English speakers
• <18 years old or >75 years old
• A history of concurrent conditions that could significantly confound the study results, such as other significant neurological condition (e.g., brain injury/infection, substance abuse) or concurrent severe psychiatric condition (e.g., schizophrenia)
• Moderate/severe Intellectual Disability or inability to understand study procedures
• Lack of capacity to consent to the study
• Currently involvement in other studies