Mona H Tawfik
Beni suef University, Egypt
Title: Cognitive Functions in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease: I. The Effect of Cerebral Microstructural Changes
Biography
Biography: Mona H Tawfik
Abstract
Cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease (PD) was extensively studied in the medical literature. Correlating such cognitive impairment with the macro and microstructural changes in cerebral grey and white matter, has gained more attention in the last years. Aim: To explore the cognitive profile of patients with PD and to correlate the brain atrophic changes and the microstructural changes in cerebral grey and white matter with the cognitive pattern in Parkinson's disease. Subjects and methods: The study was conducted on 40 patients with PD and 20 controls. Selected PD patients were submitted to evaluation of cognitive function using PD-Cognitive Rating Scale (PD-CRS), and assessment of microstructural changes in substantia nigra (SN), caudate, putamen, globus pallidus (GP), thalamus, hippocampus and prefrontal white matter using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Results: The cognitive impairment in PD patients starts with executive dysfunction followed by impairment in attention, episodic memory, and visuospatial skills. Naming is the last cognitive domain to be affected in PD patients. The cognitive impairment in PD patients can be attributed to the microstructural changes (decreased Fractional anisotropy) in SN, caudate, putamen, GP, thalamus, hippocampus and prefrontal white matter. Conclusion: Cognitive impairment in PD is present even in the earlier stages of the disease and it can be correlated with the microstructural changes in SN, caudate, putamen, GP, thalamus, hippocampus and prefrontal white matter
