Dropped head syndrome with Parkinson disease: Three cases that improved after thoracolumbar correction surgery

Abstract

Introduction: Dropped head syndrome is broadly classified into two as the neck-oriented and the back-oriented groups. Patients with Parkinson's disease have a low ability to compensate for sagittal imbalance and therefore present with dropped head syndrome, which is frequently of the back-oriented type.

Case Report: We report three cases of dropped head syndrome in Parkinson's disease. They had three different kinds of spinal deformity, namely, kyphoscoliosis, iatrogenic flat back, and post-traumatic kyphosis; all of them also had sagittal imbalance. Surgical correction of the thoracolumbar spine improved not only the sagittal imbalance but also the dropped head syndrome.

Conclusion: Back-oriented dropped head syndrome can be improved by surgical correction of the thoracolumbar spine.