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A diffusion tensor imaging study to compare normative fractional anisotropy values with patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease in the brain grey and white matter

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Abstract

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) appears as a sensitive method to study Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathophysiology and severity. Fractional anisotropy (FA) value is one of the scalar derivatives of DTI used to find out anisotropy within a voxel in a tissue and used for determining white matter integrity in aging and neurodegenerative diseases. We studied DTI derived FA in early PD subjects as their routine MRI scans were normal. 40 patients with early PD and 40 healthy controls were employed to evaluate changes in microstructural white and grey matter in the brain’s using DTI derived FA values. Comparison of FA values in the brain’s white and grey matter of patients with PD and age matched controls at the corpus callosum, centrum semiovale, pons, putamen, caudate nucleus, substantia nigra, cerebral peduncles and cerebellar peduncles, was done using a region of interest (ROI) technique, with b-value 1000s/mm2 and TE = 100 milliseconds using 1.5 T MRI system. PD patients showed differences in FA values in both the grey and white matter areas of the brain’s compared to healthy controls. Our study revealed the presence of damage in the substantia nigra, corpus callosum, putamen and cerebral peduncles mainly in the PD group. Our findings indicate that DTI and region of interest (ROI) methods can be used in patients with early PD to study microstructural alterations mainly in the substantia nigra, putamen and corpus callosum.

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Data availability

The data collected in the current study comprises of screenshot images taken after obtaining FA values of PD patients and healthy controls using diffusion tensor imaging fibre track software. The data will be shared on request as per the Kasturba Medical hospital ethical committee patient privacy guidelines. The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

Bombay Scientific, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Imaging Technology, Department of Medical Imaging Technology, College of Allied Health Sciences, Srinivas University, Mukka Karnataka, India

    Rahul P Kotian

  2. Department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging, Kasturba Medical College, MAHE, Manipal, India

    K Prakashini

  3. Department of Statistics, MAHE, Manipal, India

    N Sreekumaran Nair

Authors
  1. Rahul P Kotian
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  2. K Prakashini
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  3. N Sreekumaran Nair
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Contributions

RK conceptualized the study. RK, PK and SN have given inputs in study design. RK collected the data. RK analysed the data and wrote the first draft of manuscript and all co- authors contributed in critical review of data analysis and manuscript writing. RK will act as guarantor for this paper. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Rahul P Kotian.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests in this study.

Ethical approval

The study protocol followed was reviewed and approved by the Research Committee of Manipal College of Health Profession and Manipal Academy of Higher Education, and ethical clearance was also obtained by Kasturba Medical College and Hospital, MAHE, Manipal.

Informed consent

A detailed explanation about the study was given by the principal investigator after which they provided consent for publication. All the patients included in this research gave written informed consent to publish the data contained within this study.

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Kotian, R.P., Prakashini, K. & Nair, N.S. A diffusion tensor imaging study to compare normative fractional anisotropy values with patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease in the brain grey and white matter. Health Technol. 10, 1283–1289 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12553-020-00454-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12553-020-00454-1

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