Striatal FDOPA uptake and cognition in advanced non-demented Parkinson's disease: A clinical and FDOPA-PET study

This study sought to determine the nature of the relationship between cognition and striatal dopaminergic functioning in 28 patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) using fluorodopa Positron emission tomography (FDOPA-PET) and neuropsychological test scores. Mental flexibility was related to putamen activity while mental organization (executive memory and fluency) was related to caudate FDOPA uptake. Interestingly, the caudate may be more important in the mental components of executive functioning, while the putamen may be more important in the motor components of executive functioning.