Suitability of visual cues for freezing of gait in patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease: a case–control pilot study

BACKGROUND: Freezing of gait (FOG) is one of the most debilitating symptoms in patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (IPD). Visual cues can relieve FOG symptoms. However, there is no consensus on patient characteristics that can benefit from visual cues. Therefore, we examined the differences in IPD patient characteristics according to the effectiveness of visual cueing. METHODS: Through gait experiments, we investigated the number of FOG occurrences, average FOG period per episode, proportion of FOG duration in the total gait cycles, and FOG-free period gait spatiotemporal parameters in ten participants diagnosed with FOG due to IPD. Subsequently, the differences between their clinical characteristics and striatal dopamine active transporter availability from six subregions of the striatum were compared by dividing them into two groups based on the three reduction rates: occurrence numbers, mean durations per episode, and proportion of FOG duration in the total gait cycles improved by visual cueing using laser shoes. The relationships among these three reduction rates and other FOG-related parameters were also investigated using Spearman correlation analyses. RESULTS: According to the three FOG-related reduction rates, the group assignments were the same, which was also related to the baseline self-reported FOG severity score (New Freezing of Gait Questionnaire): the more severe the FOG, the poorer the response to the visual cueing. By visual cueing, the better response group demonstrated the characteristics of lower new FOG questionnaire total scores, higher dopamine active transporter availability of the anterior and posterior putamen, and shorter mean duration of FOG per episode in the absence of cueing. These results were replicated using Spearman correlation analyses. CONCLUSIONS: For FOG symptoms following IPD, gait assistance by visual cueing may be more effective when the total NFOGQ score is lower and the DAT of putamen is higher. Through this study, we demonstrated clinical and striatal dopaminergic conditions to select patients who may be more likely to benefit from visual cueing with laser shoes, and these findings lead to the need for early diagnosis of FOG in patients with IPD. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05080413. Registered on September 14, 2021. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12984-023-01214-8.