Diffusion changes in substantia nigra following striatum infarction with diffusion tensor imaging / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the diffusion changes in ipsilateral substantia nigra after a chronic striatum infarction with diffusion tensor imaging ( DTI ) and its connotation for clinical lecture.Methods Participators underwent a DTI scan and were divided into three groups. The striatum infarction (SI) group consisted of twenty patients with chronic basal ganglia infarction with striatum involved, while the non striatum infarction (NSI) group consisted of another twenty patients with chronic basal ganglia infarctions without striatum involved. The control group consisted of twenty healthy volunteers. Before the DTI scan all patients underwent a clinical evaluation with Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and Barthol Index,and the four patients of SI group with symptoms like Parkinson disease underwent an additional evaluation with the third subscale of Unified Parkinson' s Disease Rating Scale ( UPDRS Ⅲ ). Results Compared with NSI and control groups, the infarct side substantia nigra MD of SI group increased by 30. 86 percent (t =40.07,P=0.000) and 31.42 percent (t =42. 64,P =0.000). The FA values from the three groups were not different. There were four patients with some symptoms like Parkinson disease in SI group. Compared with those patients without symptom like Parkinson disease in SI group, the infarct side substantia nigra MD of these four patients increased by 22 percent(t = 18.03, P =0. 01 ). Moreover, the infarct side substantia nigra MD of these four patients was correlated with their UPDRS Ⅲ positively ( r = 0. 97, P = 0. 03 ).Conclusions The secondary degeneration in the ipsilateral side substantia nigra after striatum infarction could be detested quantitatively with diffusion tensor imaging. The secondary degeneration in substantia nigra may be responsible for the symptoms like Parkinson disease in striatum infarction patients.