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The predictive power of transcranial sonography in movement disorders: a longitudinal cohort study

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Abstract

Transcranial sonography (TCS) is a noninvasive, easily performed, and commonly available neuroimaging technique useful for the study of brain parenchyma in movement disorders. This tool has been increasingly used in the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and atypical parkinsonism. The aim of the study was to evaluate the applicability of this technique as supportive tool in the early diagnosis of movement disorders. We performed TCS on 315 individuals which were diagnosed as healthy controls or affected by idiopathic Parkinson’s disease, monogenetic subtypes of Parkinson’s disease, atypical parkinsonism, and Dementia with Lewy bodies. Five TCS diagnostic patterns were defined on the basis of substantia nigra’s and lenticular nuclei’s echogenicity. TCS evaluations were performed by two blinded neuro-sonographers. Clinical diagnosis on all individuals was performed at baseline and at 4-year follow-up. The concordance rate between TCS patterns and clinical diagnosis and the specificity of TCS pattern to discriminate each group of individuals were compared at baseline and at follow-up. The concordance rate between TCS patterns and clinical diagnosis of all individuals was 84% at baseline and increased at follow-up (91%) significantly (p = 0.01). The specificity of TCS pattern in the comparison between patients diagnosed as affected by idiopathic Parkinson’s disease and atypical parkinsonism showed a significant increase at follow-up (p = 0.03). Our study strongly confirms the role of TCS as a noninvasive and cost-effective tool in early diagnosis of movement disorders.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stroke Unit, Department of Urgency and Emergency, S. Spirito Hospital, Pescara, Italy

    Daniela Monaco

  2. Department of Neurology, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    Daniela Berg

  3. Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University, Chieti, Italy

    Astrid Thomas, Vincenzo Di Stefano, Filomena Barbone, Michela Vitale, Camilla Ferrante, Laura Bonanni, Marco Onofrj & Raffaella Franciotti

  4. Laboratory of Biostatistics, Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University, Chieti, Italy

    Marta Di Nicola

  5. Division of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Medicine and Science of Aging, “G. d’Annunzio” University, Chieti, Italy

    Tonia Garzarella

  6. Department of Neurology, SS Annunziata Hospital, Chieti, Italy

    Luciano Paolo Marchionno

  7. Stroke Unit, Neurology Unit, IRCCS , Reggio Emilia, Italy

    Giovanni Malferrari

  8. INPS, Chieti, Italy

    Rocco Di Mascio

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  1. Daniela Monaco
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Correspondence to Raffaella Franciotti.

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The study was approved by the ethics committee. Written informed consent was obtained from each participant before the inclusion in the study.

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Monaco, D., Berg, D., Thomas, A. et al. The predictive power of transcranial sonography in movement disorders: a longitudinal cohort study. Neurol Sci 39, 1887–1894 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-018-3514-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-018-3514-z

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