Magnetic Resonance Parkinsonism Index Is Associated with REM Sleep Behavior Disorder in Parkinson's Disease

Daniele Urso; Salvatore Nigro; Benedetta Tafuri; Valentina Gnoni; Marco Filardi; Roberto De Blasi; K Ray Chaudhuri; Giancarlo Logroscino

doi:10.3390/brainsci12020202

Magnetic Resonance Parkinsonism Index Is Associated with REM Sleep Behavior Disorder in Parkinson's Disease

Brain Sci. 2022 Jan 31;12(2):202. doi: 10.3390/brainsci12020202.

Authors

Daniele Urso^{1

2}, Salvatore Nigro^{1

3}, Benedetta Tafuri^{1

4}, Valentina Gnoni^{1

2}, Marco Filardi^{1

4}, Roberto De Blasi⁵, K Ray Chaudhuri², Giancarlo Logroscino^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Aging Brain, Department of Clinical Research in Neurology, University of Bari 'Aldo Moro', "Pia Fondazione Cardinale G. Panico", Tricase, Lecce, Italy.
² Department of Neurosciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, King's College London, London, UK.
³ Institute of Nanotechnology (NANOTEC), National Research Council, Lecce, Italy.
⁴ Department of Basic Medicine, Neuroscience, and Sense Organs, University of Bari 'Aldo Moro', Bari, Italy.
⁵ Department of Radiology, Pia Fondazione di Culto e Religione "Card. G. Panico", Tricase, Italy.

Abstract

We investigated the association between the Magnetic Resonance Parkinsonism Index (MRPI) and REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD). We included 226 de novo PD patients (82 PD-RBD and 144 PD-noRBD) and 19 idiopathic RBD patients. Furthermore, 3T T1-weighted MR images were used for automated brainstem calculations. MRPI values were higher in the PD-RBD (p = 0.004) compared to PD-noRBD patients. Moreover, MRPI proved to be a significant predictor of REM Behavior Disorder Screening Questionnaire scores in PD (β = 0.195, p = 0.007) and iRBD patients (β = 0.582, p = 0.003). MRPI can be used as an imaging marker of RBD in patients with de novo PD and iRBD.

Keywords: MRI; Parkinson’s disease; RBD.