In multiple system atrophy (MSA), symptoms associated with dysfunctions of the brainstem and autonomic nervous system are important prognostic factors. We inv estigated brainstem involvement in 12 patients with MSA wi...In multiple system atrophy (MSA), symptoms associated with dysfunctions of the brainstem and autonomic nervous system are important prognostic factors. We inv estigated brainstem involvement in 12 patients with MSA with predominant cerebel lar symptoms (MSA C) (mean age, 56.3 ±9.9 years, median disease duration, 3 ye ars), and 11 controls (57.6 ±12.0 years) matched for age using diffusion weig hted MR imaging (DWI). We demonstrated that apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC s) in the pons and middle cerebellar peduncle of MSA C patients are significant ly higher than those of normal controls even though the patients are in the earl y stage of the disease. Furthermore, we demonstrated that increased ADC values c orrelated well with the disease duration. The current study demonstrated that DWI is a useful noninvasive method for the quantitative evaluation of the brainstem involvement in MSA C patients.展开更多
文摘In multiple system atrophy (MSA), symptoms associated with dysfunctions of the brainstem and autonomic nervous system are important prognostic factors. We inv estigated brainstem involvement in 12 patients with MSA with predominant cerebel lar symptoms (MSA C) (mean age, 56.3 ±9.9 years, median disease duration, 3 ye ars), and 11 controls (57.6 ±12.0 years) matched for age using diffusion weig hted MR imaging (DWI). We demonstrated that apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC s) in the pons and middle cerebellar peduncle of MSA C patients are significant ly higher than those of normal controls even though the patients are in the earl y stage of the disease. Furthermore, we demonstrated that increased ADC values c orrelated well with the disease duration. The current study demonstrated that DWI is a useful noninvasive method for the quantitative evaluation of the brainstem involvement in MSA C patients.
