Morphometric parameters and apparent diffusion coefficient in patients with clinically confirmed diagnosis of parkinsonian syndromes

Abstract

Parkinsonian syndromes are difficult to differentiate among them. Our main objective was to determine morphometric parameters as well as apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) data, regarding differentiation between patients confirmed with Parkinsonian syndromes; the following diagnoses were included, Parkinson´s disease (PA), supranuclear progressive palsy (SPP), and multiple system atrophy (MSA), eleven patients were recruited in each group. Paired healthy individuals served as control groups for every diagnosis. For every patient and healthy control, MRI studies where acquired, including T2, SPGR and diffusion sequencing. Statistical analysis as applied using SPSS program. Statistically significant differences were noticed among Parkinsonian syndrome groups regarding morphometric measurments; specifically ponto-- mesencephalic relation, which was significantly less in patients harboring SPP than in those with PD or MSA. ADC values allowed for differentiating patients with diagnosis of PD from MSA, however, our results correlate partially with previous studies and show asymmetry with other results. Hence we conclude that ponto mesencephalic relation can be used as an additional parameter for differentiating among patients with SPP and other parkinsonian syndromes. Our results show that ADC differentiation between parkinsionian syndromes is limited.