Idoia Corcuera Solano MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Javier Pagonabarraga MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Yolanda Vives-Gilabert Dipl Eng, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Beatriz Gomez-Anson MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Fidel Nuñez, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Jaime Kulisevsky MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Cognitive dysfunction occurs at early stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Neuroimaging has provided evidence of selective decreased cortical thickness that appears to begin prior to the onset of dementia. The purpose is to test the hypothesis that there is selective cortical thinning on MRI in PD patients with cognitive decline and to delineate the structural changes that characterize the progression of cognitive dysfunction in PD.  

78PD patients (age72.5±7years,education8.5±5years,disease duration7.3±5years) were classified into 3 groups according to their cognitive status: 26 Normal Cognition (PD-NC), 28 Mild Cognitive Impairment (PD-MCI), and 23 Demented (PDD). 21 matched controls (HC) were included. 3T MRI (3D-MPRAGE whole brain sequence, Turbo Field Echo, TR=6.7, TE=3.1, Voxel size=1.2x0.889x0.889) were obtained for cortical parcelation and cortical thickness quantification using Freesurfer. One-way ANOVA with post-hoc Bonferroni tests were used to test for between group differences in demographical, clinical and neuropsychological variables (p<0.05). General lineal model was used for the brain structural analysis. The correlation between average cortical thickness areas and neuropsychological variables was analyzed using bivariate correlations.

Cortical thickness changes: There is selective cortical thinning of both hemispheres in PD patients with cognitive decline, more marked in PDD than in PD-MCI. Results shown in the table (p<0.001uncorrected). Neuropsychological correlations: Sustained attention, immediate free-recall verbal memory and confrontation naming correlated with the thinning areas when compared PD-MCI vs PD-NC. Sustained attention, working memory, alternating verbal fluency, delayed free-recall verbal memory and confrontation naming correlated with the decreased cortical thickness areas when compared PDD vs PD-MCI (Pearson's correlation coefficient; p<0.01)

There is selective cortical thinning involvement in PD patients and cognitive decline. This may be a potentially useful biomarker of conversion to dementia in PD. The results are coherent with the evidence of the cortical cognitive dysfunction particulary involving memory.

MRI provide markers of cognitive decline progression in PD which may be of clinical relevance for early and more precise diagnosis of dementia in PD so that better treatment can be obtained.  

Corcuera Solano, I, Pagonabarraga, J, Vives-Gilabert, Y, Gomez-Anson, B, Nuñez, F, Kulisevsky, J, MRI Detection of Selective Cortical Thinning and Neuropsychological Correlations: A Comparison from Normal Cognition to Dementia in Parkinson’s Disease (PD).  Radiological Society of North America 2012 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 25 - November 30, 2012 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2012/12023260.html