title: MRI-based cerebellar volume measurements correlate with the International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale score in patients with spinocerebellar degeneration or multiple system atrophy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Progression of clinical symptoms and cerebellar atrophy may vary among subtypes of spinocerebellar degeneration and multiple system atrophy. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to demonstrate the relationship between the International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS) score and cerebellar volume derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a broad spectrum of Japanese patients with cerebellar ataxia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 86 patients with cerebellar ataxia (18 with cortical cerebellar atrophy, 34 with spinocerebellar ataxia, and 34 with multiple system atrophy) and 30 healthy subjects were studied. MRI-based cerebellar volume measurements were performed in all subjects using T1-weighted images acquired with a 1.5-T MRI scanner. The cerebellar volume/cranial anteroposterior (AP) diameter was used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Stepwise multiple regression analyses demonstrated that cerebellar volume/cranial AP diameter and midbrain AP/cranial AP diameter were significantly associated with the total score and domain I sub-score of ICARS. We found no interactions between these two anatomical factors in the ICARS total and domain I sub-scores. The main effects of these two predictors were statistically significant both in total and domain I sub-scores (p = 0.001 and 0.022, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cerebellar volume and midbrain AP diameter normalized to the cranial AP diameter were significantly correlated with the ICARS total and domain I sub-scores. Further longitudinal studies are warranted to explore the role of these MRI biomarkers for predicting disease progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Neurology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511 Japan.
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2058-4018
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Neurology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511 Japan.
authors.forename: Futaba
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Maki
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Neurology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511 Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeaki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Neurology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511 Japan.
authors.forename: Rie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Neurology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511 Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
keywords: Cerebellar volume; MRI; Multiple system atrophy; Spinocerebellar degeneration