Disruptions of the fornix fiber in Parkinsonian patients with excessive daytime sleepiness.
BACKGROUND
Although excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in Parkinson's disease (PD) has received a great deal of attention, the underlying pathological mechanism of its development and the relative contributions of brain function to this process are poorly understood.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the fractional anisotropy (FA) values of PD patients with EDS and those without EDS, and to investigate the mechanism of EDS in this disease.


METHODS
Eleven patients with PD with EDS, 26 patients with PD without EDS and 10 controls participated in this study. Patients with an ESS (Epworth Sleepiness Scale) score >or=10 were defined as having EDS. The FA values of 5 regions of interest (ROI) including the fornix were compared between the three groups.


RESULTS
There were significant reductions in FA values of the fornix fiber in patients with EDS. ESS scores had significant correlation with FA values of the fornix.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study is the first to find the fornix fiber degeneration in PD patients with EDS. These results indicate that fornix dysfunction may have some correlations with EDS in PD.
Matsui
Hideaki
H
Department of Neurology, Sumitomo Hospital, 5-3-20 Nakanoshima, Osaka 530-0005, Japan. matsui-hideaki@sumitomo-hp.or.jp
Nishinaka
Kazuto
K
Oda
Masaya
M
Niikawa
Hidekazu
H
Komatsu
Kenichi
K
Kubori
Tamotsu
T
Udaka
Fukashi
F
D000368:Aged; D016880:Anisotropy; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D020712:Fornix, Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000473:pathology; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*