Characteristics Of Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping And Susceptibility Weighted Imaging In Patients With Parkinson’s Disease And Their Value In Application

Objective:To assess brain iron variations in deep grey matter nuclei in PD by using QSM and SWI, and evaluate the clinical value of the QSM and SWI in Parkinson’s disease.Methods:Collected clinical data of 22 cases of clinically diagnosed Parkinson’s disease patients as PD group. According to Hoehn and Yahr stage, the PD group was divided into two groups including early stage PD group( ≤ 1.5) and middle-late stage PD group(>1.5). A group of 15 gender and age matched healthy volunteers were recruited as normal control group. All of them underwent 3.0T SWI and QSM scan.The regions of interest including caudate nucleus(CN), putamen(PUT), globus pallidus(GP), thalamus(THA), substantia nigra(SN) and red nucleus(RN) were drawn manually on the susceptibility maps and corrected phase maps. The susceptibility values and corrected phase(CP) values were measured and calculated.The statistical analysis was underwent.Results:QSM susceptibility values in ROIs of healthy controls in this study had a strong positive relationship with iron concentrations published by Hallgren and Sourander(r= 0.992, P < 0.01); In normal control group, there were no significant differences between the susceptibility values of hemispheres(P>0.05); In PD group, there were no significant differences between the susceptibility values of the ipsilateral and contralateral to the most affected side(P > 0.05); In early stage PD group, the susceptibility values of bilateral SN were higher than that of normal control group, the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05); In middle-late stage PD group,the susceptibility values of bilateral PUT, SN and RN contralateral to the most affected limb were higher than that of the normal group, the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05); The susceptibility value of PUT in the middle-late stage PD group was higher than that of the early stage PD group, the difference was statisticallysignificant(P <0.05); No correlations were found between susceptibility values of ROIs in the side either contralateral or ipsilateral to the most affected limb and the disease duration(P > 0.05); CP values in ROIs of healthy controls in this study showed a negative correlation with iron concentrations published by Hallgren and Sourander(r=- 0.819,P < 0.05); In the early stage PD group,the CP value of SN contralateral to the most affected limb was reduced compared with the normal control group, the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05); In the middle-late stage PD group,the CP values of bilateral SN and PUT were reduced compared with the normal control group, the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).Conclusion:QSM can clearly show the deep grey matter nuclei in the brain. It can evaluate brain iron content accurately by measuring the susceptibility value and is helpful in the diagnosis of early PD and assessment of patients with PD. Besides, it is superior to SWI. QSM helps to improve our understanding of the PD and the early diagnosis.