Nigrosome Imaging and Neuromelanin Sensitive MRI in Diagnostic Evaluation of Parkinsonism

Abstract

Background: Recent developments in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques have offered new research opportunities to visualize in vivo substantia nigra pathology in Parkinson's disease (PD). This paper summarizes the main findings of nigrosome imaging and neuromelanin sensitive MRI studies in patients with PD and other parkinsonisms. Methods: The PubMed database was searched from 2005 to 2017 using the following keywords: Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism, in combination with MRI, nigrosome, neuromelanin, and iron. Only publications in English were included. Results: Nigrosome or dorsal nigral hyperintensity abnormalities are studied using T2* and susceptibility weighted imaging MRI sequences in most studies, whereas Neuromelanin imaging is usually performed using T1-weighted fast spin echo sequence. Nigrosome abnormalities have been consistently demonstrated in PD patients, and nigrosome imaging has high sensitivity and specificity in distinguishing PD from healthy controls, though it is unable to reliably separate PD from atypical parkinsonisms. Reduced neuromelanin-related signals and/or volume loss in neuromelanin containing structures have been found in PD patients, and neuromelanin sensitive MRI imaging can also discriminate PD patients from healthy controls with high accuracy, though there is a degree of heterogeneity in the imaging findings. Preliminary findings suggested that longitudinal change of neuromelanin signal could be detected in PD, raising the possibility of using it as a marker of disease progression. Conclusion: Nigrosome imaging and neuromelanin sensitive MRI are promising tools to study nigral pathology and to improve the diagnosis of PD. However, further studies are required to standardize analysis approaches, confirm longitudinal changes, and assess their generalizability.