Distribution of Diminished Brain Microstructure in Parkinson's Disease: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study of the Parkinson's Progression Marker Initiative (S22.003)

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether a systematic degradation of cerebral microstructural integrity in Parkinson9s disease (PD) can be detected with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in an international multicenter setting (the Parkinson9s Progression Marker Initiative, PPMI). Background PPMI is a landmark clinical study aiming to identify biomarkers of PD progression. Here, we report initial investigations of systematic differences in DTI between PD patients and control subjects. Design/Methods: DTI data were obtained in 15 de-novo PD patients (age: 61.5 ± 8.6 years, 10 men, 5 women) and 23 control subjects (age: 57.8 ± 12.7 years, 16 men, 7 women) from 6 different MRI sites (Austria, Germany, USA) and processed and analyzed centrally. PD patients had on average movement deficits of 22 ± 6 points on the UPDRS Part III scale and Hoehn and Yahr staging of 2 or less. Moreover, PD patients and controls scored comparably on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The DTI summary measure of fractional anisotropy (FA) was evaluated voxel-by-voxel to achieve a regionally unbiased assessment, after the maps were morphed into a normalized brain atlas space for a group analysis. Results: PD patients showed significant (p Conclusions: The findings imply that PD is associated with a characteristic pattern of diminished microstructural integrity, involving movement control regions. Furthermore, this pattern of FA reduction is different from the one associated primarily with aging and potentially has diagnostic value. The results further demonstrate that DTI alterations in PD can be measured in a multicenter setting. Supported by: The Michael J Fox foundation for Parkinson9s Research. Disclosure: Dr. Schuff has received research support from Eisai-Pfizer, Sanofi, adn Neurochem. Dr. Wu has nothing to disclose. Dr. Buckley has nothing to disclose. Dr. Zhang has nothing to disclose. Dr. Seibyl has received personal compensation for activities with Bayer Healthcare and GE healthcare as a consultant. Dr. Seibyl holds stock and/or stock options in Molecular Neuroimaging. Dr. Marek holds stock and/or stock options in Molecular Neuroimaging, which sponsored research in which Dr. Marek was involved as an investigator.