Tracy Robert Melzer1,2, Richard Watts1,3, Michael R. MacAskill1,2, Ross Keenan4, Ajit Shankaranarayanan5, David C. Alsop6, Charlotte Graham1,2, Leslie Livingston1,2, John C. Dalrymple-Alford1,7, Tim J. Anderson1,2
1Van der Veer Institute, Christchurch, New Zealand; 2Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand; 3Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; 4Christchurch Radiology Group, Christchurch, New Zealand; 5GE Healthcare, Menlo Park, CA, USA; 6Beth Israel Deconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA; 7Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Pseudo Continuous ASL was used to investigate cerebral blood flow in eight drug-nave Parkinsons disease (PD) patients and 16 controls. Principal component analysis resulted in a set of perfusion covariance patterns that successfully distinguished between patients and controls. The pattern was characterized by hypoperfusion in the bilateral posterior parietal-occipital region, extending anteriorly to include precentral and postcentral gyri, middle frontal gyrus, posterior medial cortex (principally precuneus) and left middle temporal lobe. The expression of this ASL derived perfusion pattern offers a potential early biomarker in PD that may also have value in presymptomatic individuals at risk of developing PD.