Assessment of progression of Parkinson’s disease using magnetic resonance morphometry

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the world, however, structural changes in the brain at different stages and the associated pathophysiological mechanisms remain unclear.Objective: to study MR-morphometric changes in the cerebral cortex in the early and advanced stages of PD in comparison with the control group.Material and methods. 88 patients with PD were examined (II stage of the disease — 42 people, III stage — 46 people according to the Hoehn–Yahr scale). The control group consisted of 35 people who did not differ in sex and age with initial manifestations of cerebrovascular insufficiency. All groups included in the study underwent a neurological examination, as well as magnetic resonance imaging of the brain on a Philips Achieva 3.0T apparatus, followed by post-processing processing of the T1 gradient echo images obtained using FreeSurfer 6.0 software.Results. In patients with stage II PD, compared with the control group, a significant decrease in the thickness of the cortex was found in the gyrus of the precuneus (p = 0.014) of the lateral part of the superior temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, postcentral sulcus, superior temporal sulcus, which progressed during the transition to the third the stage of the disease and can serve as a marker of the progression of the neurodegenerative process.Conclusion. A morphometric study of the cerebral cortex in PD makes it possible to clarify some links in the pathogenesis of the formation, including dopamine-independent symptoms of the disease.