Early cortical gray matter loss and cognitive correlates in non-demented Parkinson's patients

Non-demented PD subjects demonstrate cortical structural changes in frontal and parieto-occipital regions compared to controls. The association between typically recognized “frontal lobe” function and occipital lobe volume suggested a compensatory role of occipital lobe to primary fronto-striatal pathology in PD. Further longitudinal study of these changing structure-function relationships is needed to understand the neural bases of symptom progression in PD.