Chunmei Li MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Shuai Peng, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Rui Wang, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Jinyuan Zhou PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

min chen, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

To demonstrate the feasibility of using chemical-exchange-saturation-transfer (CEST) imaging to detect Parkinson’s disease (PD) in patients at 3 Tesla.

27 PD patients (17 men and 10 women; age range, 54-77 years) and 22 age-matched normal controls (13 men and nine women; age range, 55-73 years) were scanned on a Philips 3 Tesla MRI system. Magnetization transfer spectra with 31 different frequency offsets (-6 to 6 ppm) were acquired at two transverse slices of the head, including the basal ganglia and midbrain. The quantitative image analysis and comparison between PD patients and normal controls were performed by two radiologists. The FLAIR image was used as the anatomical reference to draw regions of interest (substantia nigra, red nucleus, globus pallidus, putamen, caudate, gray matter and white matter of frontal lobe and occipital lobe of both hemispheres). MTRasym(3.5ppm), MTRtotal ( the integral of the MTRasym spectrum in the range of 0 to 4 ppm) and MTR(15.6ppm) were measured for each region. The values of each side were recorded as a separate sample. Independent t-tests were used to compare the differences in CEST imaging signals between PD patients and normal controls.

The MTRtotal in the substantia nigra was significantly lower in PD patients than in normal controls (P = 0.006), which could be associated with the loss of dopaminergic neurons. The protein-based CEST imaging signals at the frequency offset of 3.5 ppm in the globus pallidus, putamen, caudate and frontal gray matter were significantly increased in PD patients, compared to normal controls (P < 0.001, P = 0.003, P < 0.001, P=0.005, respectively). The MTRtotal in the occipital gray matter was significantly lower in PD patients than in normal controls (P = 0.005). No significant differences in the MTRasym(3.5ppm) and MTRtotal were found between PD patients and normal controls for the frontal white matter and occipital white matter. No significant differences in MTR(15.6ppm) were found between PD patients and normal controls for all these regions.

CEST imaging signals could potentially serve as imaging biomarkers to aid in the non-invasive molecular diagnosis of PD.

CEST imaging signals could provide information additional to conventional MR imaging and potentially serve as imaging biomarkers to aid in the non-invasive molecular diagnosis of PD.

Li, C, Peng, S, Wang, R, Zhou, J, chen, m, Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer MR Imaging of Parkinson’s Disease at 3 Tesla.  Radiological Society of North America 2014 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, - ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2014/14010135.html