title: Brain atrophy and white matter hyperintensities in early Parkinson's disease(a).
abstract: The purpose of this research was to examine the extent of global brain atrophy and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in early Parkinson's disease (PD) compared to normal controls (NC), to explore the relationship between the MRI variables and cognition in PD. In this multicenter study we included 155 PD patients (age 65.6 +/- 9.1 years, disease duration 26.7 +/- 19.9 months) and 101 age-matched NC. On 3D-T1-WI, we calculated normalized brain volumes using SIENAX software. WMH volumes were assessed semiautomatically. In PD patients, correlation and regression analyses investigated the association between atrophy and WMH outcomes and global, attention-executive, visuospatial, and memory cognitive functions. Regression analysis was controlled for age, education, depression score, motor severity, cerebrovascular risk, and sex. No significant MRI variable volume group differences were found. The models did not retain any of the imaging variables as significant predictors of cognitive impairment. There was no evidence of brain atrophy or higher WMH volume in PD compared to NC, and MRI volumetric measurements were not significant predictors of cognitive functions in PD patients. We conclude that global structural brain changes are not a major feature in patients with incident PD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14203, USA.
authors.forename: Turi O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Dalaker
authors.forename: Jan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bergsland
authors.forename: Mona K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Beyer
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Dwyer
authors.forename: Ole-Bjorn
authors.initials: OB
authors.lastname: Tysnes
authors.forename: Ralph H B
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Benedict
authors.forename: Arpad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kelemen
authors.forename: Kolbjorn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bronnick
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zivadinov
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001284:Atrophy / Q000150:complications; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric