Objective: This study aimed to examine the relationship between automatically quantified perivascular space (PVS) count located in the subcortical white matter (WM), baseline motor deficits, and longitudinal motor outcomes in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: Little is known about the clinical significance of PVS located in the subcortical WM in PD.

Method: This study enrolled 270 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed PD who underwent brain MRI at initial assessment. Subcortical WM PVS was automatically segmented using high-resolution T2-weighted images, and its count was calculated. Multivariate linear regression analyses evaluated the association between subcortical WM PVS count and baseline Unified PD Rating Scale Part III. Cox regression models assessed the prognostic value of baseline subcortical WM PVS for the risk of developing freezing of gait (FOG).

Results: Higher subcortical WM PVS count, particularly in the frontal and parietal regions, correlated with milder parkinsonian motor deficits (p = 0.016) at baseline. During the 2-year follow-up, FOG developed in 56 patients with PD, and higher subcortical WM PVS count, particularly in the frontal region, was associated with a lower risk of FOG (hazard ratio = 0.983; p <0.001).

Conclusion: These findings indicate that higher subcortical WM PVS count can be an indicator of favorable clinical outcomes in PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/clinical-significance-of-automatically-assessed-perivascular-space-count-in-subcortical-white-matter-of-parkinsons-disease/