Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Symposium 1

Transcranial sobography of substantia nigra in patients with Parkinson's disease

Hideto Miwa, M.D.1)

1)Deaprtment of Neurology, Juntendo University Nerima Hospital

Recent advances in basic research toward neuroprotective strategies of Parkinson's disease (PD) are increasingly highlighting the need for early diagnosis of PD. Substantia nigra (SN) hyperechogenicity, as visualized by transcranial sonography, has been heralded as a particularly useful diagnostic marker, as it is stable and remains unchanged with advancing stages of PD. In addition, SN hyperechogenicity is observable in patients in the very early stage, or even premorbid stages of PD. Prior studies have shown that SN hyperechogenicity is observable in approximately 90% of patients with PD and up to 10% of healthy controls. It has been hypothetically proposed that may be a vulnerability marker for nigrostriatal dopamine neuronds and may be related to an increase in iron content. It is expected that transcranial sonography of SN will be a feasible method for more accurate diagnosis of PD.
Full Text of this Article in Japanese PDF (571K)

(CLINICA NEUROL, 53: 981|982, 2013)
key words: Parkinson's disease, substantia nigra, ultrasound, sonography

(Received: 29-May-13)