Neuromelanin magnetic resonance imaging combined with quantitative susceptibility mapping has a high diagnostic value in staging and assessment of cognitive function in Parkinson's disease

LIAO Qi; YANG Chen; HAO Lu; JU Chao; WANG Hong

doi:10.12122/j.issn.1674-4500.2025.01.04

Abstract：Objective To explore the value of Neuromelanin magnetic resonance imaging(NM-MRI)combined with quantitative susceptibility mapping(QSM)in staging and assessment of cognitive function in PD.Methods NM-MRI and QSM scans were conducted on 62 patients with PD diagnosed by the neurology department in our hospital and 22 age and gender matched healthy controls(HC).The contrast-to-noise ratio(CNR)and the magnetic susceptibility(MSV)values of the substantia nigra(SN)were obtained by post-processing software,then comparing the CNR and MSV values among different stages of PD.The diagnostic efficacy of each single and combined parameter for PD in staging and assessment of cognitive function were assessed using subject operating characteristic curves and binary logistic regression analyses.Results The CNR values of SN were lower in PD group than in HC group(P<0.05)and the MSV values of SN were higher in PD group than in HC group(P<0.05),and the differences were statistically significant.Inter-group comparisons of PD revealed that the CNR values of early PD group were higher than those of the middle and advanced PD groups(P<0.05),the MSV values of advanced PD group were higher than those of the early and middle PD groups(P<0.05),and the differences were statistically significant.The CNR values of PD group showed a positive correlation with MoCA scores and MMSE scores,while showing a negative correlation with UPDRS-III scores(P<0.05);the MSV values of PD group showed a negative correlation with MoCA scores and MMSE scores but showed a positive correlation with the UPDRSIII scores(P<0.05).The ROC curve demonstrated that the AUC values for NM-MRI,QSM and combined of NM-MRI and QSM were 0.778,0.783 and 0.820 in the distinguish of early and middle PD group.The ROC curve demonstrated that the AUC values for NM-MRI,QSM and combined of NM-MRI and QSM were 0.821,0.787 and 0.830 in assessment of cognitive function.The combination of above two sequences was more effective in distinguishing different stages and assessing cognitive function of PD than any single technique.Conclusion NM-MRI combined with QSM technology has a high diagnostic efficiency in staging and assessment of cognitive function in PD,which can identify early PD patients and provide imaging evidence for PD cognitive assessment.