A meta-analysis of diffusion tensor imaging of substantia nigra in patients with Parkinson\u2019s disease

Xiao-Yan Deng,Ting-Ting Yang,Rui Li,Li Wang,Gang Yu

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-20076-y

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease characterized by severe, selective loss of pigmented neurons in the substantial nigra (SN). Previous studies have indicated that such loss could be detected by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Here, we try to consolidate current DTI data to both quantitatively determine the imaging changes in SN, as well as explore the potential use of DTI for PD diagnosis. Fourteen research articles are included in this meta-analysis, each obtained by searching PubMed, EMBASE, or Cochrane library database dated until July 2017. The articles contain 14 trials with 298 total PD patients and 283 healthy controls (HCs). The results show not only significantly lower FA values of SN in PD compared to that of HCs (WMD = −0.02, 95% CI = [−0.03, −0.02], p < 0.00001), but also a significantly higher MD in PD compared to HCs (WMD = 0.05, 95% CI = [0.03, 0.07], P < 0.0001). This indicates that the sharp difference detected between PD patients and HCs can be detected by DTI. By further analyzing the heterogeneity, we found that FA measurement of SN could be potentially used as a surrogate, noninvasive diagnostic marker toward PD diagnosis.

Highlights

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease characterized by severe, selective loss of pigmented neurons in the substantial nigra (SN)
By further analyzing the heterogeneity, we found that Fractional anisotropy (FA) measurement of SN could be potentially used as a surrogate, noninvasive diagnostic marker toward PD diagnosis
14 studies containing 298 PD patients and 183 healthy controls (HCs) were used for subsequent pooled analysis[9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22] (Fig. 1)

Summary

Introduction

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease characterized by severe, selective loss of pigmented neurons in the substantial nigra (SN). Fourteen research articles are included in this meta-analysis, each obtained by searching This indicates that the sharp difference detected between PD patients and HCs can be detected by DTI. Early diagnosis of PD was critical to initiate precise treatment by developing either bio- or image-markers that can be used as early diagnostic tools or to monitor the effectiveness of treatments. Until now, no such validated markers are available for clinical use, even though extensive investigations of this method have been carried out

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