Persistent pain as a non-motor symptom in corticobasal syndrome

While a number of studies have investigated pain in Parkinson's disease, pain in corticobasal syndrome (CBS) remains understudied. This study evaluated the presence of persistent pain in CBS to determine whether it is a common non-motor symptom. We retrospectively evaluated the records of patients who were clinically diagnosed with CBS and re-examined or interviewed the patients for evaluation. There were 27 patients with clinically diagnosed CBS, of whom nine had persistent pain of unknown origin in addition to their disease. Seven patients had pain in their affected limbs, and the others had chest or neck pain. One patient's limb pain responded to levodopa treatment, but her parkinsonism responded poorly to the treatment. Pain could be a common non-motor symptom in CBS. Levodopa treatment should be considered because it might be beneficial in some patients.