Degeneration of substantia nigra in chronic Parkinson's disease visualized by transcranial color-coded real-time sonography

Abstract

To detect morphologic abnormalities in Parkinson's disease (PD), we examined 30 patients with PD and 30 age- and sex-matched nonparkinsonian controls by transcranial color-coded real-time sonography (TCCS). In 12 severely affected PD patients, the echogenicity of the substantia nigra was distinctly increased. In the remaining 18 PD patients and in all controls, the substantia nigra was poorly visualized or nondetectable by TCCS. The degree of hyperechogenicity of the substantia nigra closely correlated with the severity and duration of PD (p < 0.001). The increased echogenicity of the substantia nigra notably results from nigral gliosis and reflects the stage of degeneration.

Structural abnormality of the substantia nigra in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

“…In one study, the echogenic area of the substantia nigra was enlarged in a large proportion of patients with idiopathic Parkinson disease. 4 In another study, a reduction of the echogenic area was found in patients with restless legs syndrome. 5 To our knowledge, the echogenicity of the substantia nigra has previously not been investigated in patients with ADHD.…”

“…Because the structure of the substantia nigra is easily accessible by transcranial sonography (TCS), assessment of the substantia nigra by TCS may reveal important insights into the function of the dopaminergic system without ionizing radiation. 4,5 Indeed, 2 prototypical neurologic disorders associated with dysfunction of dopaminergic neurotransmission have revealed abnormalities of the echogenic substantia nigra. In one study, the echogenic area of the substantia nigra was enlarged in a large proportion of patients with idiopathic Parkinson disease.…”

Feature Analysis for Parkinson’s Disease Detection Based on Transcranial Sonography Image

“…Based on this dataset, the features found in [8] and [9] achieved 76.81% and 48.55% correct rate, respectively. Five local features F (3,7,8,1,9) were selected with SFFS based on this dataset. Using the selected local featrues, the classification accuracy reached 72.46%, which was better than the Gabor feature and GLCM feature from [9].…”

“…Transcranial sonography (TCS) was used for the first time in a clinical study between a group of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and healthy controls in 1995 [1]. For PD patients, the hyperechogenicity of the substantia nigra (SN) was significantly increased compared with controls.…”

Substantia Nigra Hyperechogenicity for the Early Detection of Parkinson’s Disease

“…Since the first publication by Becker and colleagues in 1995 [1], substantia nigra hyperechogenicity (SN+) detected by the transcranial B-mode sonography (TCS) has gained increasing popularity for clinical application and as a topic of research. Supported by numerous studies of different groups, SN+ has meanwhile been established as a reliable marker for PD diagnosis with a sensitivity of 85-90% and a specificity of 77-86% [2][3][4].…”