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. 2015 Nov 3;85(18):1569-77.
doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002082. Epub 2015 Oct 7.

Cerebral small vessel disease and incident parkinsonism: The RUN DMC study

Helena M van der Holst  1 , Inge W M van Uden  1 , Anil M Tuladhar  1 , Karlijn F de Laat  1 , Anouk G W van Norden  1 , David G Norris  1 , Ewoud J van Dijk  1 , Rianne A J Esselink  1 , Bram Platel  1 , Frank-Erik de Leeuw  2
Affiliations

Cerebral small vessel disease and incident parkinsonism: The RUN DMC study

Helena M van der Holst et al. Neurology. .

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the relation between baseline cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) and the risk of incident parkinsonism using different MRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures.

Methods: In the Radboud University Nijmegen Diffusion Tensor and Magnetic Resonance Cohort (RUN DMC) study, a prospective cohort study, 503 elderly participants with SVD and without parkinsonism were included in 2006. During follow-up (2011-2012), parkinsonism was diagnosed according to UK Brain Bank criteria. Cox regression analysis was used to investigate the association between baseline imaging measures and incident all-cause parkinsonism and vascular parkinsonism (VP). Tract-based spatial statistics analysis was used to identify differences in baseline DTI measures of white matter (WM) tracts between participants with VP and without parkinsonism.

Results: Follow-up was available from 501 participants (mean age 65.6 years; mean follow-up duration 5.2 years). Parkinsonism developed in 20 participants; 15 were diagnosed with VP. The 5-year risk of (any) parkinsonism was increased for those with a high white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume (hazard ratio [HR] 1.8 per SD increase, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3-2.4) and a high number of lacunes (HR 1.4 per number increase, 95% CI 1.1-1.8) at baseline. For VP, this risk was also increased by the presence of microbleeds (HR 5.7, 95% CI 1.9-16.8) and a low gray matter volume (HR 0.4 per SD increase, 95% CI 0.2-0.8). Lower fractional anisotropy values in bifrontal WM tracts involved in movement control were observed in participants with VP compared to participants without parkinsonism.

Conclusions: SVD at baseline, especially a high WMH volume and a high number of lacunes, is associated with incident parkinsonism. Our findings favor a role of SVD in the etiology of parkinsonism.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flowchart of parkinsonism case-finding during follow-up
IPD = idiopathic Parkinson disease; OPD = outpatient department; PSP = progressive supranuclear palsy; SVD = cerebral small vessel disease; VP = vascular parkinsonism.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Differences in fractional anisotropy values between participants with vascular parkinsonism and without parkinsonism
Voxel-wise analysis of the differences in fractional anisotropy (FA) values between participants with vascular parkinsonism (n = 9) and without parkinsonism (n = 427). Adjusted for age, sex, baseline motor part of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale score, and normalized total brain volume (A) and for small vessel disease characteristics (white matter volume, white matter hyperintensity volume, and number of lacunes and microbleeds) (B), performed with a 2-sample t test, thresholded at p < 0.025 and corrected for multiple comparisons. These images are superimposed onto the spatially normalized Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) stereotactic space FA map. The x, y, and z coordinates represent the MNI coordinates of each slide.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Neurology. 2016 Mar 29;86(13):1268-9
  • Parkinsonism, small vessel disease, and white matter disease: Is there a link?
    Luca CC, Rundek T. Luca CC, et al. Neurology. 2015 Nov 3;85(18):1532-3. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002091. Epub 2015 Oct 7. Neurology. 2015. PMID: 26446067 No abstract available.
  • Author Response.
    van der Holst HM, De Leeuw FE. van der Holst HM, et al. Neurology. 2016 Mar 29;86(13):1268-9. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002554. Neurology. 2016. PMID: 27022177 No abstract available.

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