Neuromelanin MR Imaging In Parkinson’s Disease

Author:Sofia Reimão, Joaquim J Ferreira
Volume Info:Volume 2 Issue 1
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Article Information

Volume 2 Issue 1 , pages 24-29
Received – 24 April 2016, Aaccepted – 04 May 2016

Sofia Reimão
Neurological Imaging Department, Hospital de Santa Maria – Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte, Portugal

Imaging University Clinic, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Clinical Pharmacology Unit, Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal

 

Joaquim J Ferreira
Department of Neurosciences, Hospital de Santa Maria – Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte, Portugal

Clinical Pharmacology Unit, Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal

CNS – Campus Neurológico Sénior, Torres Vedras, Portugal

 

Corresponding Author: Sofia Reimão – sofiapcr@gmail.com,

Joaquim Ferreira – joaquimjferreira@gmail.com

Abstract:


The development and application of neuromelanin sensitive MR imaging has allowed the detection of significant changes in the substantia nigra (SN) of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, with high sensitivity and specificity in differentiating PD patients from non-PD aged controls, even in early disease stages, namely at the time of clinical diagnosis. These MR neuromelanin changes in the SN of PD patients reproduced in vivo long known characteristic pathological changes of PD. Several image evaluation methods have been used, corroborating the reproducibility of the data and enabling wider applications of this imaging technique in the clinical practice.
In this review we analyze the background and the technical aspects of neuromelanin sensitive MR imaging, focusing on the applications of these specific sequences for the study of PD, emerging as a possible disease imaging biomarker and a promising tool for individual patient evaluation.

 

Keywords:


Parkinson’s Disease, neuromelanin, Substantia nigra, locus coeruleus, MRI.

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