Transcranial brain sonography for Parkinsonian syndromes.

Transcranial brain sonography for Parkinsonian syndromes. J Neurosurg Sci. 2019 Aug;63(4):441-449 Authors: Bor-Seng-Shu E, Paschoal FM, Almeida KJ, De Lima Oliveira M, Nogueira RC, Teixeira MJ, Walter U Abstract Substantia nigra (SN) hyperechogenicity has been proved to be a characteristic finding for idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), occurring in more than 90% of the patients. This echofeature is owed to increased amounts of iron in the SN region and reflects a functional impairment of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. In a prospective blinded study in which a group of patients with early mild signs and symptoms of unclear Parkinsonism were followed until a definite clinical diagnosis of PD, the hyperechogenicity of the SN was demonstrated to be highly predictive of a final diagnosis of PD. For the diagnosis of PD in individuals with early motor symptoms, both the sensitivity and positive predictive value of SN hyperechogenicity were higher than 90% and both the specificity and negative predictive value were higher than 80%. For early differential diagnosis between PD and atypical Parkinsonian syndromes, the sensitivity and positive predictive value of SN hyperechogenicity were higher than 90%, and both the specificity and negative predictive value were higher than 80%. The diagnostic specificity is increased if combining the TCS findings of SN, lenticular nucleus and third ventricle. In asymptomatic adult subjects, SN hyper...
Source: Journal of Neurosurgical Sciences - Category: Neurosurgery Tags: J Neurosurg Sci Source Type: research