Parkinson’s disease is characterized by degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). To study the micro-structural and free-water (FW) changes using diffusion-MRI in the SNc it is critical to extract SNc accurately. Our work employs a neuromelanin sensitive MRI based atlas to delineate the SNc and demonstrates significant FW and FW eliminated microstructural alterations in a large cohort of PD (with and without psychosis) and its association with PD severity, indicative of novel diagnostic and progression markers of PD which however demonstrate no role in genesis of psychosis in PD.
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