Open AccessVisual System Involvement in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Parkinson Disease
Author(s) -
Alessandro Arrigo,
Alessandro Calamuneri,
Demetrio Milardi,
Enricomaria Mormina,
Laura Rania,
Elisa Imelde Postorino,
Silvia Marıno,
Giuseppe Di Lorenzo,
Giuseppe Anastasi,
Maria Felice Ghilardi,
Pasquale Aragona,
Angelo Quartarone,
Michele Gaeta
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
radiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.118
H-Index - 295
eISSN - 1527-1315
pISSN - 0033-8419
DOI - 10.1148/radiol.2017161732
Subject(s) - white matter , medicine , diffusion mri , optic radiation , optic chiasm , magnetic resonance imaging , atrophy , nuclear medicine , fractional anisotropy , lateral geniculate nucleus , parkinson's disease , voxel , inferior longitudinal fasciculus , pathology , optic nerve , radiology , ophthalmology , disease , neuroscience , psychology , visual cortex
Purpose To assess intracranial visual system changes of newly diagnosed Parkinson disease in drug-naïve patients. Materials and Methods Twenty patients with newly diagnosed Parkinson disease and 20 age-matched control subjects were recruited. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted imaging) was performed with a 3-T MR imager. White matter changes were assessed by exploring a white matter diffusion profile by means of diffusion-tensor imaging-based parameters and constrained spherical deconvolution-based connectivity analysis and by means of white matter voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Alterations in occipital gray matter were investigated by means of gray matter VBM. Morphologic analysis of the optic chiasm was based on manual measurement of regions of interest. Statistical testing included analysis of variance, t tests, and permutation tests. Results In the patients with Parkinson disease, significant alterations were found in optic radiation connectivity distribution, with decreased lateral geniculate nucleus V2 density (F, -8.28; P < .05), a significant increase in optic radiation mean diffusivity (F, 7.5; P = .014), and a significant reduction in white matter concentration. VBM analysis also showed a significant reduction in visual cortical volumes (P < .05). Moreover, the chiasmatic area and volume were significantly reduced (P < .05). Conclusion The findings show that visual system alterations can be detected in early stages of Parkinson disease and that the entire intracranial visual system can be involved. © RSNA, 2017 Online supplemental material is available for this article.