Session Information
Date: Thursday, June 8, 2017
Session Title: Parkinson's Disease: Neuroimaging And Neurophysiology
Session Time: 1:15pm-2:45pm
Location: Exhibit Hall C
Objective: To characterize the clinical features and the neuroanatomical bases of cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease (PD) with respect to attention, executive function, memory, language, and visuospatial function using a battery of neuropsychological tests and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET).
Background: Cognitive impairment is a frequent comorbidity in PD. The underlying mechanism of the clinically heterogeneous deficits in cognitive dysfunction of PD remains controversial. 18F-FDG PET imaging might be able to help identify cognition-related imaging pattern to explore the underlying pathogenesis and provide the potentially objective biomarker.
Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study in a cohort of 168 PD patients and 103 health controls with similar age, education and sex distribution. All of them underwent clinical assessment including UPDRS motor score, Hoehn-Yahr Scale and a battery of neuropsychological tests suggested by Movement Disorder Society (MDS) diagnostic criteria for PD-MCI. Demographics and the results of cognitive measures were compared among patients and health controls. Correlations between Z-score values of the different cognitive domains and cerebral FDG uptake were assessed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM8) corrected for age and motor severity in 53 PD patients who underwent 18F-FDG PET brain imaging.
Results: Our study revealed the widespread nature of cognitive dysfunction in PD. 44 PD of patients (26.2%) were classified as PD patients with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) and 12 patients (7.1%) were classified as PD patients with dementia (PD-D). 91.2% of PD patients with cognitive impairment showed multiple-domain deficits, with attention and executive function predominantly impaired. All the cognitive domains, except language function, correlated with FDG metabolism mainly in posterior temporo-parieto-occipital associated cortical areas.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that cognitive impairment in PD is beyond frontal/executive deficits. The posterior cortical areas with multiple neurotransmitters and neural circuits may have taken important part in the pathogenesis of Parkinsonian cognitive impairment.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
F.-t. Liu, J.-j. Ge, L. Wu, Y.-j. Yang, J. Zhao, S.-s. Luo, Y.-m. Sun, J.-j. Wu, Z.-t. Ding, C.-t. Zuo, J. Wang. Clinical characteristics of cognitive impairment in patients with Parkinson’s disease and its related pattern in 18F-FDG PET imaging [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2017; 32 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/clinical-characteristics-of-cognitive-impairment-in-patients-with-parkinsons-disease-and-its-related-pattern-in-18f-fdg-pet-imaging/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to 2017 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/clinical-characteristics-of-cognitive-impairment-in-patients-with-parkinsons-disease-and-its-related-pattern-in-18f-fdg-pet-imaging/