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MRI gray and white matter measures in progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal syndrome

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Abstract

We evaluated MRI measures of gray and white matter damages in 19 patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), 11 with corticobasal syndrome (CBS), and 14 healthy subjects (HS) to differentiate patients with PSP from those with CBS. We calculated surface-based maps of the cortical volume, cortical thickness, surface area, and voxel level maps of sub-cortical volume, and diffusion tensor imaging parameters using automated scripts implemented in FreeSurfer and FSL toolboxes. No significant differences in cortical volume loss were observed between PSP and CBS. When cortical volume was divided into cortical thickness and surface area, cortical thickness in peri-rolandic brain regions was significantly smaller in CBS than in PSP patients, whereas surface area was significantly smaller in PSP than HS. We also found widespread volume loss in sub-cortical structures in patients with PSP and CBS in comparison to HS. Both patient groups displayed diffusion tensor imaging abnormalities: compared to HS, widespread fractional anisotropy and radial diffusivity changes were observed in PSP, whereas axial and radial diffusivity changes were prominent in CBS. Mini-mental state examination positively correlated with diffusion changes in patients with PSP. In conclusion, cortical thickness, surface area, and diffusion tensor imaging parameters may be sensitive enough to help differentiate patients with PSP from those with CBS.

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Abbreviations

AD:

Alzheimer disease

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

AxD:

Axial diffusivity

CBS:

Corticobasal syndrome

CTh:

Cortical thickness

DSM IV-TR:

Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition, text revision

DTI:

Diffusion tensor imaging

FA:

Fractional anisotropy

FAB:

Frontal assessment battery

FTLD:

Fronto-temporal lobar degeneration

GLM:

General linear model

GM:

Gray matter

HAM-D:

Hamilton depression scale

HS:

Healthy subjects

MD:

Mean diffusivity

MDS-UPDRS-III:

Movement disorder society-unified Parkinson’s disease rating scale, part III

MMSE:

Mini-mental state evaluation

PSP:

Progressive supranuclear palsy

RD:

Radial diffusivity

RS:

Richardson syndrome

SA:

Surface area

WM:

White matter

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Viale dell’Università, 30, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Neeraj Upadhyay, Antonio Suppa, Maria Cristina Piattella, Matteo Bologna, Alessandra Formica, Francesca Tona, Alfredo Berardelli & Patrizia Pantano

  2. IRCCS INM Neuromed, Pozzilli, IS, Italy

    Antonio Suppa, Matteo Bologna, Flavio Di Stasio, Alfredo Berardelli & Patrizia Pantano

  3. Department of Neurology, Santa Maria University Hospital, Terni, Italy

    Carlo Colosimo

Authors
  1. Neeraj Upadhyay
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  2. Antonio Suppa
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  3. Maria Cristina Piattella
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  4. Matteo Bologna
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Correspondence to Patrizia Pantano.

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On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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The study was approved by our institutional review board and conformed with the Declaration of Helsinki. All participants gave their written informed consent.

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Upadhyay, N., Suppa, A., Piattella, M.C. et al. MRI gray and white matter measures in progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal syndrome. J Neurol 263, 2022–2031 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-016-8224-y

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