Session Information
Date: Monday, June 20, 2016
Session Title: Parkinsonism, MSA, PSP (secondary and parkinsonism-plus)
Session Time: 12:30pm-2:00pm
Location: Exhibit Hall located in Hall B, Level 2
Objective: To explore longitudinally clinical, cognitive, and neuroimaging changes in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy syndrome (PSPs).
Background: PSP is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. Longitudinal studies on clinical and anatomical changes in this disease are still missing.
Methods: We enrolled 21 patients with Richardson’s syndrome (PSP-RS) and 10 with PSP-Parkinsonism (PSP-P). Patients underwent clinical and neuropsychological evaluations and MRI scan at baseline and after a mean follow-up (FU) of 1.4 years. Diffusion tensor (DT) metrics of white matter (WM) tracts were assessed in both PSPs groups. Cortical thickness changes were investigated in PSP-RS patients. At baseline, 35 healthy controls underwent MRI.
Results: Both PSPs groups manifested significant motor and cognitive decline (PSP-RS > PSP-P). Apathy worsened in both groups, while depression and behavioral changes in PSP-RS only. At study entry, PSP-RS patients presented focal thinning of fronto-temporal and cingulate cortices bilaterally, compared to controls. Over time, these areas and insular cortices showed a progression of thinning. PSP-RS patients exhibited baseline WM damage in midbrain, superior cerebellar peduncles, corpus callosum and main long-range tracts. At FU, damage progressed in corpus callosum, frontotemporal/-parietal connections, but not in infratentorial WM, and correlated with the worsening of disability and behavioral dysfunction. At baseline, PSP-P patients had WM damage in the anterior corpus callosum, external capsule, corona radiate, and superior longitudinal fasciculus bilaterally, compared to controls; these same regions showed a subtle progression of damage during FU.
Conclusions: In PSPs patients, the progression of WM microstructural damage is prominent compared to cortical damage and it is related to the worsening of clinical symptoms. DT-MRI offers useful biomarkers to monitor the progression of PSPs disease.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
F. Caso, F. Agosta, M. Lukic-Jecmenica, I. Petrovic, P. Valsasina, P.M. Ferraro, A. Meani, M. Copetti, V.S. Kostic, M. Filippi. Modeling trajectories of brain damage in progressive supranuclear palsy: A longitudinal multimodal MRI study [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2016; 31 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/modeling-trajectories-of-brain-damage-in-progressive-supranuclear-palsy-a-longitudinal-multimodal-mri-study/. Accessed May 24, 2025.« Back to 2016 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/modeling-trajectories-of-brain-damage-in-progressive-supranuclear-palsy-a-longitudinal-multimodal-mri-study/