Parkinsonism in multiple sclerosis patients: A prospective observational study

Rare cases of coexisting multiple sclerosis and parkinsonism have been reported in the literature. However, the true prevalence, clinical characteristics, and causal relation between the two entities have not been systematically evaluated.

To evaluate the prevalence of parkinsonism in patients with multiple sclerosis and examine the causal relationship, if any.

Consecutive patients referred to the multiple sclerosis clinic were evaluated by a neurologist with double training in both neuroimmunology and movement disorders. All patients were specifically screened for movement disorders via a movement disorder survey and a focused exam. Video samples were independently rated by two blinded movement disorder raters. Pre-specified criteria were developed for five potential clinical scenarios: incidental idiopathic Parkinson's disease, incidental Parkinson-plus syndrome, drug-induced parkinsonism, acute symptomatic parkinsonism, and chronic symptomatic parkinsonism.

From 2016 to 2021, 336 patients were evaluated. Of those, 12 patients (3.6%) had clinical parkinsonism (average age 68 years, 66% females). Nine patients (75%) were deemed to have incidental Parkinson's disease, 2 (17%) had drug-induced parkinsonism, and 1 (8.3%) was deemed to have demyelination-related chronic symptomatic parkinsonism. The latter presented with gradual and progressive parkinsonism without prodromal symptoms. Both blinded raters agreed with the parkinsonism phenomenology. In addition to typical enhancing and non-enhancing demyelinating lesions, the patient had lesions bilaterally in the basal ganglia. She had positive oligoclonal bands in the cerebrospinal fluid. DAT scan was normal. She was diagnosed with PPMS with activity and progression manifesting solely with secondary parkinsonism. Her disease stabilized with ocrelizumab. There were no cases of acute symptomatic parkinsonism or co-existing Parkinson-plus syndrome over the five-year duration of the study. Three of the incidental idiopathic Parkinson's disease cases had radiologically isolated syndrome.

Parkinsonism in MS is rare and most cases are incidental. However, clinicians need to recognize the entity of demyelination-related chronic symptomatic parkinsonism in patients with progressive MS phenotypes and demyelinating lesions in the basal ganglia and/or upper midbrain. Parkinsonism may be the sole clinical presentation of progressive MS and the only indication for DMT initiation or escalation. There is an over-representation of radiologically isolated syndrome in patients with presumptive incidental demyelination and idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Prospective studies utilizing high-field MRI and longitudinal DAT scans are needed to better characterize the complex relationship between demyelination and parkinsonism.