Background: Early stage patients with Parkinsons disease (PD) show cognitive impairment in frontal lobe functions and memory tests. Hippocampal atrophy is s een in medicated patients with advanced PD. Objectives: To...Background: Early stage patients with Parkinsons disease (PD) show cognitive impairment in frontal lobe functions and memory tests. Hippocampal atrophy is s een in medicated patients with advanced PD. Objectives: To examine whether prefr ontal or hippocampal atrophy are already present in early stage PD, and whether such atrophy is associated with cognitive impairment. Methods: Twenty non medic ated, non demented patients with early stage PD and 22 neurologically healthy a ge matched controls were studied. All subjects underwent magnetic resonance imag ing to study hippocampal and prefrontal atrophy. Atrophy was evaluated by a neur oradiologist using a five point scale. In addition, the patients underwent a neu ropsychological test battery sensitive to frontal lobe functions and memory. Res ults: Patients with PD had atrophy in the right and the left prefrontal cortex. In the right hippocampus, the mean atrophy score was 1.15 in PD and 0.45 in cont rols. Corresponding figures for the left hippocampus were 1.05 for PD and 0.64 f or controls. In PD, the left hippocampus atrophy correlated with verbal memory a nd prefrontal atrophy correlated with impaired performance in a test measuring v igilance. Conclusions: Non medicated, non demented patients with early stage P D show hippocampal and prefrontal atrophy. Impaired memory is related to hippoca mpal atrophy, whereas sustained attention is related to prefrontal atrophy.展开更多
文摘Background: Early stage patients with Parkinsons disease (PD) show cognitive impairment in frontal lobe functions and memory tests. Hippocampal atrophy is s een in medicated patients with advanced PD. Objectives: To examine whether prefr ontal or hippocampal atrophy are already present in early stage PD, and whether such atrophy is associated with cognitive impairment. Methods: Twenty non medic ated, non demented patients with early stage PD and 22 neurologically healthy a ge matched controls were studied. All subjects underwent magnetic resonance imag ing to study hippocampal and prefrontal atrophy. Atrophy was evaluated by a neur oradiologist using a five point scale. In addition, the patients underwent a neu ropsychological test battery sensitive to frontal lobe functions and memory. Res ults: Patients with PD had atrophy in the right and the left prefrontal cortex. In the right hippocampus, the mean atrophy score was 1.15 in PD and 0.45 in cont rols. Corresponding figures for the left hippocampus were 1.05 for PD and 0.64 f or controls. In PD, the left hippocampus atrophy correlated with verbal memory a nd prefrontal atrophy correlated with impaired performance in a test measuring v igilance. Conclusions: Non medicated, non demented patients with early stage P D show hippocampal and prefrontal atrophy. Impaired memory is related to hippoca mpal atrophy, whereas sustained attention is related to prefrontal atrophy.
