Session Information
Date: Saturday, October 6, 2018
Session Title: Neuroimaging (Non-PD)
Session Time: 1:45pm-3:15pm
Location: Hall 3FG
Objective: To investigate the differences in the pattern of striatal (caudate and putamen) dopamine transporter(DAT) loss in a multiple system atrophy (MSA) cohort, based on the clinical variants-parkinsonian subtype (MSA-P) and cerebellar subtype (MSA-C) via (11)C-N-2-carbomethoxy-3-(4-fluorophenyl)-tropane (11C-CFT) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.
Background: In some isolated neuropathologically confirmed MSA cases, DAT imaging can be either normal or decreased consistent with various clinical manifestations, suggesting heterogeneity of DAT distribution in MSA patients.
Methods: One hundred and six subjects (forty-one patients with probable MSA-P; forty patients with probable MSA-C; twenty-five healthy controls) underwent 11C-CFT PET. Sub-regional 11C-CFT uptake of bilateral caudate, anterior putamen and posterior putamen was calculated respectively to measure the striatal dopaminergic function.
Results: Significant decrease of DAT binding in striatum was revealed in patients with MSA-C and MSA-P compared to normal controls (all regions, MSA-C vs controls, p< 0.0001; MSA-P vs controls, p< 0.0001). DAT reduction was more pronounced in MSA-P patients than that in MSA-C patients (all regions, p< 0.0001). Eleven of forty MSA-C patients displayed no DAT loss, whereas striatal DAT loss was evident in all MSA-P patients. MSA-P subtype showed a more obvious antero-posterior gradient of DAT loss and more asymmetric dopaminergic dysfunction compared to MSA-C patients.
Conclusions: The subtypes of MSA studied here show significantly different spatial/anatomic patterns of striatonigral degeneration which may provide insights into their disease pathophysiology. Specifically, MSA-P patients exhibit an uneven and much greater pronounced loss of dopamine innervation, while a relatively uniform pattern is revealed in patients with the MSA-C. Furthermore, the typical reduction of DAT 11C-CFT binding in striatum is not present in all MSA-C patients, with a minority of cases showing normal DAT binding.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
F.T. Liu, L.L. Bu, Y.J. Yang, P. Wu, C.T. Zuo, J. Wang. Patterns of dopamine transporter imaging in subtypes of Multiple System Atrophy [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2018; 33 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/patterns-of-dopamine-transporter-imaging-in-subtypes-of-multiple-system-atrophy/. Accessed June 14, 2025.« Back to 2018 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/patterns-of-dopamine-transporter-imaging-in-subtypes-of-multiple-system-atrophy/