Diffusion tensor imaging studies of Parkinson's disease with cognitive impairment

Objective To study the value of diffusion tensor imaging(DTI) in the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease with cognitive impairment. Methods DTI was performed in 11 patients with PDD, 13 PD patients with MCI, 12 pure PD patients and 10 control subjects. Regions of interest(ROI) were drawn in bilateral cingulum, upper longitudinal, under longitudinal, uncinate fasciculus and the dentate nucleus on fractional anisotropy(FA) map. Differences in FA between the these groups were studied by one-factor ANOVA. Results FA values of bilateral cingulum, bilateral upper longitudinal, left uncinate fasciculus and right dentate nucleus in all PD groups were lower than control group(P0.05); FA values of right uncinate fasciculus and left dentate nucleus had no significant changes only in pure PD group and control group; FA values of left under longitudinal had significant changes only in PDD and control group; FA values of right under longitudinal in all groups had no significant changes. FA values of bilateral cingulum, right upper longitudinal, bilateral uncinate fasciculus and right dentate nucleus had significant changes in all PD groups when they were compared between each other; FA values of left upper longitudinal had significant changes only in pure PD and PDD group; FA values of left dentate nucleus had no significant changes only in pure PD and PD-MCI group. Conclusion The pathological changes may damage cerebral white matter fiber and cerebellum in Parkinson's disease with cognitive impairment.