Category: Neuroimaging (Non-PD)
Objective: We aimed to investigate the progression over time of cortical thickness and cognitive functions in isolated REM-sleep behaviour disorder (IRBD) compared to healthy controls (HC).
Background: IRBD often evolves to neurodegenerative diseases such as diffuse Lewy body disease, Parkinsons’s disease, or multiple system atrophy. In this sense, we can expect an accelerated degree of atrophy in these patients in comparison with that seen in normal aging.
Method: Fourteen IRBD patients and 18 HC underwent magnetic resonance imaging with a 3T-scanner (MAGNETOM Trio, Siemens, Germany) and neuropsychological assessment at two different time points (1.58 year ± 0.2). FreeSurfer software [1] was used on T1-weighted images to carry out a longitudinal cortical thickness analysis based on symmetrized percent change (SPC). SPC was also calculated for the neuropsychological performance.
Results: HC and IRBD did not differ in years of education nor age, while gender was considered as a nuisance variable (χ²= 5.039, p=0.025). IRBD patients showed a significant higher rate of cortical thinning compared to HC in the bilateral superior parietal cortex and the left orbitofrontal cortex (FWE-corrected, p<0.05). At the cognitive level, IRBD showed a significant higher decline in visuoperceptual functions measured by the Visual Form Discrimination test (FWE-corrected, T=3.25, p=0.02).
Conclusion: In a relative short period, IRBD patients present a faster loss of cortical thickness than HC affecting parietal and orbitofrontal regions. Moreover, visuoperceptual functions, subserved by the parietal cortex, also showed significant cognitive decline.
References: 1. M. Reuter, N.J. Schmansky, H.D. Rosas, B.Fischl. Within-subject Template Estimation for Unbiased Longitudinal Image Analysis. NeuroImage 2012; 61 (4): 1402-1418.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
A. Inguanzo, B. Segura, A. Campabadal, A. Abos, C. Uribe, M. Serradell, C. Gaig, J. Santamaria, Y. Compta, C. Junque, A. Iranzo. Progression of cortical thinning and neuropsychological decline in isolated Rapid Eye Movement sleep behavior disorder [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2020; 35 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/progression-of-cortical-thinning-and-neuropsychological-decline-in-isolated-rapid-eye-movement-sleep-behavior-disorder/. Accessed May 22, 2025.« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2020
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/progression-of-cortical-thinning-and-neuropsychological-decline-in-isolated-rapid-eye-movement-sleep-behavior-disorder/