Kimihiro Ogisu1, Kosuke Kudo2, Makoto Sasaki2, Ken Sakushima3, Satoshi Terae4, Mitsuhiro Nakanishi, Shunrou Fujiwara5, Hiroki Shirato1
1Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan; 2Advanced Medical Research Center, Iwate Medical University; 3Department of Neurology, Hokkaido University Hospital; 4Department of Radiology, Hokkaido University Hospital; 5Department of Neurosurgery, Iwate Medical University
Neuromelanin-sensitive MRI has been reported for the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, previous reports used 2D fast spin echo sequence with subjective measurement of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). We developed 3D gradient echo technique of neuromelanin-sensitive MRI. The volume of SNc was automatically measured and was significantly smaller in PD patients than in healthy volunteers. Although sensitivity and specificity were not high enough compared to the previous reports, 3D neuromelanin-sensitive MRI with automated volume measurement was feasible, and could objectively distinguish PD patients from healthy volunteers.