Quantitative analysis of the SN in Parkinson's disease implementing 3D modeling at 7.0‐T MRI

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder resulting from the progressive loss of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra (SN). In our previous study, attempts were made to directly visualize the SN and quantify the differences in shapes and boundaries of the SN between PD subjects and comparison to the normal control subjects using two‐dimensional T2*‐weighted 7.0‐T MRI images (Cho et al., Mov Disord, accepted for publication). However, a two‐dimensional analysis does not represent the entire SN. Therefore, to overcome the limitation of 2D analysis, we acquire 3D image of the SN. For this study, we scanned nine PD patients, along with nine age‐matched control subjects, using a research prototype 7.0‐T MRI scanner in an attempt to visualize the 3D shape of the SN and quantify differences in the volume of the SN between PD subjects and normal control subjects. The shape change of the ventrolateral boundaries of the SN in PD cases was reconfirmed in this 3D study as well as in our previous 2D study (Cho et al., Mov Disord, accepted for publication). Another interesting finding of this study was that 3D MR imaging study demonstrated the potential of the 7.0‐T MRI in the quantification of volume changes in the SN. The measured correlation analyses showed that there is age‐dependent correlation and substantially stronger unified Parkinson's disease rating scale motor score‐dependent correlation in PD patients. These results suggest that 7.0‐T 3D T2*‐weighted MR imaging could provide the quantitative estimation of volume changes in the SN in PD patients in vivo for comparison with normal controls in vivo. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 21, 253–259, 2011;