Objective: Using neuromelanin (NM)-MRI, we analyzed whether disease severity and MF is associated with the degree of dopaminergic neuronal degeneration in the substantial nigra compacta (SNc) in living patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (iPD) and PARK2.

Background: PD is caused by the loss of dopaminergic neuronal cells. Recently, specific T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3 Tesla was reported to visualize NM-related contrast of dopaminergic neurons.

Methods: The target population was patients with iPD but without dementia and patients with PARK2.We examined 26 individuals with iPD (mean age, 55.62 years), 11 with PARK2, (mean age, 55.82 years) and a control group of 20 (mean age, 56 years). All PARK2 patients carried a homozygous or compound heterozygous mutation in the parkin gene.A 3T MRI unit was used to obtain a modified NM-sensitive T1-weighted fast-spin echo sequence with an additional spectral presaturation inversion recovery pulse. The size and signal intensity of the SNc were determined as the number of pixels with signal intensity higher than background signal intensity + 3 standard deviations and regional contrast ratio.

Results: NM-MRI indicated that SNc volume in patients with iPD and PARK2 was significantly less than in control subjects (p ⟩ 0.01). When compared with the iPD group without MF, both iPD with MF and PARK2 showed a markedly lower SNc volume (p ⟩ 0.001), whereas “on” time unified PD rating scale part III scores did not show any differences among these patients.

Conclusions: A lower SNc volume was associated with MF but not “on” time UPDRS part III in relatively young iPD and PARK2 patients. These findings suggest that NM-MRI findings might be a useful biomarker for MF.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/neuromelanin-imaging-is-useful-for-monitoring-disease-progression-in-parkinsons-disease-and-park2/