Correlation of subthalamic nuclei T2 relaxation times with neuropsychological symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease

The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is a frequent target of deep brain stimulation (DBS), which is used to treat patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD). However, few studies have assessed the relationship between the STN and the clinical characteristics of PD patients. We identified the STN of 17 PD patients and 7 control subjects using coronal Short TI Inversion Recovery (STIR) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and estimated the T2 relaxation time (T2) of the STN on the subsequent coronal images that were acquired from T2-weighted MRI. The relationships between the STN T2 measurements and the PD patients' age, disease duration, laterality, and clinical scores were examined. STN T2 measurements tended to be lower in PD patients than in controls, although the difference was not significant. STN T2 measurements were significantly and inversely correlated (p = 0.03) with scores on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) part 1, which was applied to evaluate the mentation, behavior, and mood of PD patients. However, no significant correlations were found between the STN T2 measurements and the patients' age, disease duration, laterality, or motor clinical scores. These results suggest that degeneration of the STN in PD patients may contribute to their neuropsychological symptoms.