title: No correlation of substantia nigra echogenicity and nigrostriatal degradation in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Substantia nigra hyperechogenicity assessed by transcranial sonography is a typical finding in up to 90% of patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease, although its value as a surrogate marker for disease progression in Parkinson's disease is controversial. (123) I-FP-CIT-single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) represents an established paraclinical surrogate marker to quantify the nigrostriatal dopaminergic deficit in Parkinson's disease. Whereas most studies found no correlation between extent of substantia nigra echogenicity and the putaminal FP-CIT binding ratio, a more recent analysis reported opposite results.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 92 patients with Parkinson's disease the substantia nigra echogenicity was compared with the putaminal FP-CIT binding ratio using an investigator-independent SPECT analysis protocol and with several clinical parameters.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No correlation was found between the substantia nigra hyperechogenicity and the FP-CIT binding ratio or the disease severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Substantia nigra hyperechogenicity does not reflect the degree of the nigrostriatal degeneration or the clinical state of the disease progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Nuclear Medicine and Radiation Oncology, Charité, University-Medicine Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Elmar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lobsien
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schreiner
authors.forename: Michail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plotkin
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kupsch
authors.forename: Stephan J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Schreiber
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Doepp
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004453:Echoencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D014326:Tropanes; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial
chemical_list: D014326:Tropanes; C087552:2-carbomethoxy-8-(3-fluoropropyl)-3-(4-iodophenyl)tropane