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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Gordon Duncan, Dr Michael FirbankORCiD, Professor Alison Yarnall, Dr Tien Kheng Khoo, Professor David BrooksORCiD, Professor David BurnORCiD, Professor John O'Brien
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
BackgroundThe aim of this work was to investigate the cortical and white matter changes that underlie cognitive impairment in patients with incident Parkinson's disease (PD) disease using voxel-based morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging.MethodsNewly diagnosed nondemented PD (n=125) and control subjects (n=50) were recruited from the Incidence of Cognitive Impairment in Cohorts with Longitudinal Evaluation in Parkinson's Disease Study and completed cognitive assessments and 3T structural and diffusion tensor MR imaging. Voxel-based morphometry was performed to investigate the relationship between gray matter volume and cognitive ability. Microstructural white matter changes were assessed with diffusion tensor imaging measures of fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity using tract-based spatial statistics.ResultsIncreased mean diffusivity was observed bilaterally in subjects with PD, relative to controls (P=0.019). Increased mean diffusivity was associated with performance on the semantic fluency and Tower of London tasks in frontal and parietal white matter tracts, including the cingulum, superior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. There was no difference in total gray matter volume between groups; however, bilateral reductions in frontal and parietal gray matter volume were associated with reduced performance on measures of executive function in PD subjects.ConclusionsAt the earliest stages of PD, regionally specific increases in central white matter mean diffusivity are present and suggest early axonal damage. Such changes are not accompanied by significant gray matter volume loss and are consistent with proposed models of pathological progression of the disease. Structural MRI, especially diffusion tensor imaging analysis, offers potential as a noninvasive biomarker reflecting cognitive impairment in PD. (c) 2015 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
Author(s): Duncan GW, Firbank MJ, Yarnall AJ, Khoo TK, Brooks DJ, Barker RA, Burn DJ, O'Brien JT
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Movement Disorders
Year: 2016
Volume: 31
Issue: 1
Pages: 103-110
Print publication date: 01/01/2016
Online publication date: 22/07/2015
Acceptance date: 19/05/2015
Date deposited: 12/04/2016
ISSN (print): 0885-3185
ISSN (electronic): 1531-8257
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mds.26312
DOI: 10.1002/mds.26312
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