Brain perfusion correlates of cognitive and nigrostriatal functions in de novo Parkinson’s disease

• Published in: European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging 2011-12, Vol.38 (12), p.2209-2218
• Main Authors: Nobili, Flavio, Arnaldi, Dario, Campus, Claudio, Ferrara, Michela, De Carli, Fabrizio, Brugnolo, Andrea, Dessi, Barbara, Girtler, Nicola, Morbelli, Silvia, Abruzzese, Giovanni, Sambuceti, Gianmario, Rodriguez, Guido
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Blood Flow Velocity; Brain; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - physiopathology; Cardiology; Cerebrovascular Circulation; Cholinergic transmission; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition Disorders - diagnostic imaging; Cognition Disorders - etiology; Cognition Disorders - physiopathology; Cognitive ability; Corpus Striatum - diagnostic imaging; Corpus Striatum - physiopathology; Cortex (cingulate); Cortex (parietal); Cortex (temporal); Dopamine transporter; Executive function; Female; Humans; Imaging; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Memory; Movement disorders; Neural Pathways - diagnostic imaging; Neural Pathways - physiopathology; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neuroimaging; Neuropsychology; Nuclear Medicine; Oncology; Original Article; Orthopedics; Parietal lobe; Parkinson Disease - complications; Parkinson Disease - diagnostic imaging; Parkinson Disease - physiopathology; Parkinson's disease; Perfusion; Perfusion Imaging; Radiology; Single photon emission computed tomography; spatial memory; Statistics as Topic; Substantia Nigra - diagnostic imaging; Substantia Nigra - physiopathology; superior temporal gyrus; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon - methods; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 1619-7070; 1619-7089
• DOI: 10.1007/s00259-011-1874-1

Purpose Subtle cognitive impairment is recognized in the first stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD), including executive, memory and visuospatial dysfunction, but its pathophysiological basis is still debated. Methods Twenty-six consecutive, drug-naïve, de novo PD patients underwent an extended neuropsychological battery, dopamine transporter (DAT) and brain perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). We previously reported that nigrocaudate impairment correlates with executive functions, and nigroputaminal impairment with visuospatial abilities. Here perfusion SPECT was first compared between the PD group and age-matched controls (CTR). Then, perfusion SPECT was correlated with both DAT SPECT and four neuropsychological factors by means of voxel-based analysis (SPM8) with a height threshold of p