Gray matter volume of cerebellum associated with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus: A cross-sectional analysis

Abstract

The cause of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus's (iNPH) clinical symptoms remains unclear. The cerebral cortex is the center of the brain and provides a structural basis for complex perception and motor function. This study aimed to explore the relationship between changes in cerebral cortex volume and clinical symptoms in patients with iNPH. This study included 21 iNPH patients and 20 normal aging (NA) controls. Voxel-based morphometry statistical results showed that, compared with NA, the gray matter volumes of patients with iNPH in the bilateral temporal lobe, bilateral hippocampus, bilateral thalamus, bilateral insula, left amygdala, right lenticular nucleus, right putamen, and cerebellum decreased, while the volumes of gray matter in the bilateral paracentral lobules, precuneus, bilateral supplementary motor area, medial side of the left cerebral hemisphere, and median cingulate and paracingulate gyri increased. Correlation analysis among the volumes of white matter and gray matter in the cerebrum and cerebellum and the iNPH grading scale (iNPHGS) revealed that the volume of white matter was negatively correlated with the iNPHGS (P < 0.05), while the gray matter volumes of cerebellar area 6 and area 8 were negatively correlated with the clinical symptoms of iNPH (P < 0.05). The volume of gray matter in the cerebellar vermis was negatively correlated with gait, and the gray matter volume of cerebellar area 6 was negatively correlated with cognition. Our findings suggest that the cerebellum also plays an important role in the pathogenesis of iNPH, potentially highlighting new research avenues for iNPH.

Structural volumetric and Periodic Table DTI patterns in Complex Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus—Toward the principles of a translational taxonomy

“…However, this is not the case for the caudate, which instead showed no directional trends. Our results of non-significant differences in caudate volumes are surprising given that changes in basal ganglia structural volumes have been rather consistently reported in NPH studies ( DeVito et al, 2007 ; Ishii et al, 2008 ; Peterson et al, 2019 ; Lv et al, 2022 ) and increases in caudate rCBF were correlated only with patients who showed improvements in apathy post-operatively ( Kanemoto et al, 2019 ). We suggest two alternative hypotheses for this finding.…”

“…They also found significantly reduced thalamic, caudate head and periventricular gray matter volumes using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Using VBM, Lv et al (2022) recently confirmed the presence of both patterns of structural volumetric changes, with decreased gray matter volumes of iNPH in bilateral temporal lobes, bilateral hippocampi, bilateral thalami, bilateral insulae, left amygdala, right lenticular nucleus, right putamen and cerebella and increased gray matter volumes in the bilateral paracentral lobules, precuneus, bilateral supplementary motor areas, medial side of the left cerebral hemisphere, median cingulate and paracingulate gyri. It was also possible using meticulous neuropsychological testing and FSL-based segmentation to show volumetric data could be correlated to neuropsychological scores ( Peterson et al, 2019 ).…”

Structural neuroimaging markers of normal pressure hydrocephalus versus Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson’s disease, and hydrocephalus versus atrophy in chronic TBI—a narrative review

“…Contrarily, it was increased in medial and parietal regions. Global reduction in WM volumes and increase in CSF volumes were also found ( 52 ).…”

“…But GM degradation had not been detailed in NPH until recently. Lv et al ( 52 ) compared definite NPH patients with controls using MRI scans and found regional variations in GM volume that were significantly different in the NPH group. GM volume was lowered in specific temporal areas, thalamus, hippocampus, and the cerebellum.…”

A year in review: brain barriers and brain fluids research in 2022

“…Magnetic imaging studies have shown that NPH is associated with a decrease in grey matter in some brain areas and increase in others and in particular the cerebellum was adversely affected [ 137 ]. MRI analysis (cine-PC) has been used to evaluate CSF and brain recovery, including tissue stiffness, over 15 months after shunting [ 138 ].…”