Abstract
Parkinson disease is characterized by dopaminergic cell loss in the substantia nigra of the midbrain. There are various imaging markers for Parkinson disease. Recent advances in MRI have enabled elucidation of the underlying pathophysiologic changes in the nigral structure. This has contributed to accurate and early diagnosis and has improved disease progression monitoring. This article aims to review recent developments in nigral imaging for Parkinson disease and other parkinsonian syndromes, including nigrosome imaging, neuromelanin imaging, quantitative iron mapping, and diffusion-tensor imaging. In particular, this article examines nigrosome imaging using 7-T MRI and 3-T susceptibility-weighted imaging. Finally, this article discusses volumetry and its clinical importance related to symptom manifestation. This review will improve understanding of recent advancements in nigral imaging of Parkinson disease. Published under a CC BY 4.0 license.
Highlights
Tractography, fractional anisotropy, diffusivity, white matter; (i) volumetry, 3D T1, cortex, gray matter, and volume
This review presents up-to-date imaging applications in the substantia nigra and its related structures used in Parkinson disease and other parkinsonian syndromes, assesses their usefulness, and discusses multimodal approaches that might further improve the diagnosis and treatment of this disease
Kim et al [20] performed 7-T T2*-weighted gradient-recalled echo imaging in patients with PSP and MSA with predominant parkinsonism (MSA-P) and found that nigral hyperintensity was lost in all patients with PSP or MSA-P
Summary
This review presents up-to-date imaging applications in the substantia nigra and its related structures used in Parkinson disease and other parkinsonian syndromes, assesses their usefulness, and discusses multimodal approaches that might further improve the diagnosis and treatment of this disease. N Various MRI techniques can effectively elaborate on the neuroanatomic and pathophysiologic changes in the nigral structure of patients with Parkinson disease and other parkinsonian syndromes. N Nigral imaging can be useful in diagnosing and monitoring Parkinson disease, which can be well visualized with 3- and 7-T MRI. N Nigral imaging with a combination of different MRI techniques can provide profound information about Parkinson disease and other parkinsonian syndromes. Combinations of the keywords, synonyms, and abbreviations were used for the search. The reference lists of the retrieved articles were searched to identify other relevant articles
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