Data_Sheet_1_Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging of Microstructural Changes in Gray Matter Nucleus in Parkinson Disease.docx

Objective: To explore the microstructural damage of extrapyramidal system gray matter nuclei in Parkinson disease (PD) using diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI).
Materials and Methods: We enrolled 35 clinically confirmed PD patients and 23 healthy volunteers. All patients underwent MR examination with conventional MRI scan sequences and an additional DKI sequence. We subsequently reconstructed the DKI raw images and analyzed the data. A radiologist in our hospital collected the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of all subjects.
Results: In the PD group, the mean kurtosis and axial kurtosis level decreased in the red nucleus (RN) and thalamus; the radial kurtosis increased in the substantia nigra (SN) and globus pallidus (GP). Fractional anisotropy decreased in the putamen. The largest area under the ROC curve of mean diffusion in GP was 0.811. Most kurtosis parameters demonstrated a positive correlation with the MMSE score, while several diffusion parameters showed a negative correlation with the same.
Conclusion: DKI can qualitatively distinguish PD from healthy controls; furthermore, DKI-derived parameters can quantitatively evaluate the modifications of microstructures in extrapyramidal system gray matter nucleus in PD.

研究目的：利用扩散峰度成像（diffusion kurtosis imaging, DKI）探究帕金森病（Parkinson disease, PD）患者锥体外系灰质核团的微观结构损伤。
材料与方法：本研究纳入35例经临床确诊的帕金森病患者与23名健康志愿者。所有受试者均接受常规MRI序列扫描及额外的扩散峰度成像序列扫描。后续对DKI原始图像进行重建并开展数据分析。本院一名放射科医师收集了所有受试者的简易精神状态检查（Mini-Mental State Examination, MMSE）评分。
结果：帕金森病组患者的红核（red nucleus, RN）与丘脑的平均峰度及轴向峰度水平降低；黑质（substantia nigra, SN）与苍白球（globus pallidus, GP）的径向峰度升高。壳核的各向异性分数（Fractional anisotropy）降低。苍白球的平均扩散的受试者工作特征（Receiver Operating Characteristic, ROC）曲线下面积最大，为0.811。多数峰度参数与MMSE评分呈正相关，而部分扩散参数与该评分呈负相关。
结论：扩散峰度成像可对帕金森病患者与健康对照者实现定性区分；此外，基于DKI的参数可定量评估帕金森病患者锥体外系灰质核团的微观结构改变。