Is TBSS More Sensitive to Pakinson's Disease Pathology Than Traditional VBM?

Marta Morgado Correia¹, Charlotte Rae¹, Ellemarije Altena², Laura Hughes¹, ², James Rowe¹, ²

In this diffusion MRI study we used TBSS and VBM methods to compare a group of PD patients to an age and gender matched set of controls, and we aimed to determine which of those techniques is most sensitive in detecting white matter changes in Parkinsons patients. Using TBSS we replicated previous studies and have also shown more widespread cortical white matter pathology in PD. The VBM method found no regions of significantly decreased FA or increased MD in patients that survive FDR correction for multiple comparisons, suggesting that TBSS is more sensitive to white matter changes in PD patients.