Session Information
Date: Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Session Title: Parkinsonisms and Parkinson-Plus
Session Time: 1:45pm-3:15pm
Location: Agora 3 West, Level 3
Objective: The subsequent open, longitudinal study was performed to test whether grey matter (GM) atrophy and FOG severity changes over time and whether there is any relationship between the progression of brain structural changes, neuropsychological profile and FOG severity progression in the course of PD.
Background: The mutual relationship between freezing of gait (FOG) and regional brain atrophy has been investigated in our pilot study in 21 Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients; FOG was found to be associated with regional cortical atrophy, particularly in the mesial frontal and cingulate cortex.
Method: 21 patients with PD (11 with and 10 without FOG) were examined 2 years following the initial examinations. Hoehn-Yahr staging, FOG questionnaire, brain MRI and the neuropsychological examinations (Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventory, Hamilton Depression and Anxiety Rating Scales and Sheehan Anxiety Scale) were done in all subjects. High resolution T1-weighted brain images were acquired for each subject using a 1.5T MRI scanner; a surface-based method implemented in FreeSurfer was used to quantify the GM atrophy. To assess the significance of differences between both groups, vertex-wise and ROI comparison of spatially normalized subject data and the Wilcoxon rank sum test were done.
Results: The strong and statistically significant correlation between the grey matter reduction, level of anxiety and severity (or worsening) of FOG were present in the group of PD freezers when compared to PD non-freezers. Similarly as in the pilot study, the most prominent grey matter changes were present in the supplementary motor area, cingulate cortex, anterior temporal cortex and frontal operculum.
Conclusion: The results of our longitudinal study further support the initial hypothesis that FOG is significantly driven by the emotional stress and anxiety, and that there is a significant correlation between the atrophy of the non-motor cortical areas and the severity and progression of FOG.
References: Acknowledgement: This research was supported by the Institutional support MZ CR – DRO (FNOL 00098892) and by the European Regional Development Fund – Project ENOCH (No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000868)
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
P.. Kanovsky, M.. Vastik, K.. Mensikova, P.. Hok, J.. Valosek, P.. Hlustik. Gray matter atrophy in Parkinson’s disease and freezing of gait assessed using surface-based algorithm – results of an open, longitudinal, single-centre study [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2019; 34 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/gray-matter-atrophy-in-parkinsons-disease-and-freezing-of-gait-assessed-using-surface-based-algorithm-results-of-an-open-longitudinal-single-centre-study/. Accessed June 14, 2025.« Back to 2019 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/gray-matter-atrophy-in-parkinsons-disease-and-freezing-of-gait-assessed-using-surface-based-algorithm-results-of-an-open-longitudinal-single-centre-study/