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Alterations of diffusion tensor MRI parameters in the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease compared with normal brains: possible diagnostic use

  • Magnetic Resonance
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Abstract

Objectives

To investigate the diagnostic performance of diffusion tensor imaging in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Methods

We examined a total of 126 PD patients (68 males/58 females, mean age: 62.0 ±7.6 years) and 91 healthy controls (43 males/48 females, mean age: 59.8 ±7.2 years). Images were acquired on a 3 Tesla magnetic resonance scanner. The Camino software was used to normalize and parcellate diffusion-weighted images into 90 cerebral regions based on the automatic anatomical labelling template. The minimum, median, and maximum values of the mean/radial/axial diffusivity/fractional anisotropy were determined. The diagnostic performance was assessed by receiver operating characteristic analysis. The associations of imaging parameters with disease severity were tested using Pearson’s correlation coefficients after adjustment for disease duration.

Results

Compared with healthy controls, PD patients showed increased diffusivity in multiple cortical regions that extended beyond the basal ganglia. An area under curve of 85 % was identified for the maximum values of mean diffusivity in the ipsilateral middle temporal gyrus. The most significant intergroup difference was 26.8 % for the ipsilateral inferior parietal gyrus.

Conclusion

The measurement of water diffusion from the parcellated cortex may be clinically useful for the assessment of PD patients.

Key Points

• Increased diffusivity was identified in multiple cortical regions of Parkinson’s disease patients.

• The area under the receiver operating curve was 85 % in the middle temporal gyrus.

• The ipsilateral inferior parietal gyrus showed the most significant change.

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Acknowledgements

The scientific guarantor of this publication is Jiun-Jie Wang. The authors of this manuscript declare no relationships with any companies whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article. This study has received funding by the Ministry of Science and Technology Taiwan (103-2325-B-182-001 and 104-2314-B-182-042) and the Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital (CMRPD3D0011-3, CIRPD1E0061 and CMRPD1C0291-3). One of the authors has significant statistical expertise. Institutional review board approval was obtained. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects (including patients) in this study. Some study subjects or cohorts have been previously reported in (10.3389/fnagi.2013.00071). 77 healthy controls have been previously reported (10.3389/fnagi.2013.00071). The prior article discussed the change of water diffusion in the ageing process whereas this manuscript focused on the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.

Methodology: prospective, case-control study, performed at one institution.

The imaging facility was supported by the Imaging Core Laboratory of Institute for Radiological Research and Center for Advanced Molecular Imaging and Translation. The authors would like to thank the Neuroscience Research Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Imaging Core Laboratory of Institute for Radiological Research, Chang Gung University/Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou and the Healthy Aging Research Center, Chang Gung University for providing support. The funding source had no involvement in the collection, analysis, and interpretation data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Division of Movement Disorders,Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan

      Chin-Song Lu, Yi-Hsin Weng & Wey-Yil Lin

    2. Neuroscience Research Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan

      Chin-Song Lu, Yi-Hsin Weng, Wey-Yil Lin & Jiun-Jie Wang

    3. School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan

      Chin-Song Lu, Yi-Hsin Weng & Wey-Yil Lin

    4. Department of Medical Imaging and Intervention, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan

      Shu-Hang Ng, Yao-Liang Chen & Jiun-Jie Wang

    5. Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, Chang Gung University, 259 WenHua 1st Road, Taoyuan County, 333, Taiwan

      Shu-Hang Ng & Jiun-Jie Wang

    6. Clinical Informatics and Medical Statistics Research Center,College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan

      Jur-Shan Cheng

    7. Department of Medical Imaging and Intervention, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan

      Yau-Yau Wai & Yao-Liang Chen

    8. Medical Imaging Research Center, Institute for Radiological Research, Chang Gung University / Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taoyuan, Taiwan

      Jiun-Jie Wang

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    Correspondence to Jiun-Jie Wang.

    Additional information

    Chin-Song Lu and Shu-Hang Ng contributed equally to this work.

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    Lu, CS., Ng, SH., Weng, YH. et al. Alterations of diffusion tensor MRI parameters in the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease compared with normal brains: possible diagnostic use. Eur Radiol 26, 3978–3988 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-016-4232-7

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-016-4232-7

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