TRADITIONAL POSTER - ismrm

Poster Sessions
was characterized by decreased perfusion in PD versus controls in bilateral posterior parietal-occipital regions, posterior medial cortices, precentral and
bilateral middle frontal gyri, and left caudate. Preserved perfusion occurred in bilateral globus pallidus. This ASL-derived PD network provides a marker to
objectively gauge disease severity and serves as a potential method to longitudinally track disease progression.
1964. Abnormal Spontaneous Brain Activity in Early Parkinson's Disease Revealed by ALFF Analysis
Hong Yang 1 , Xu-ning Zheng 2 , Yu-feng Zang 3 , Yi-lei Zhao 1 , Jue Wang 3 , Min-ming Zhang 1
1 Department of Radiology, First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medical Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China;
2 Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medical Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China;
3 State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Using a new biomarker, the amplitude of the low frequency fluct uation (ALFF), the current study is to explore the abnormal spontaneous neural activity of
resting state in early PD. Ten early PD patients were compared with eleven gender- and age-matched controls. Data processing was performed using DPARS
software. In this study, abnormal ALFF demonstrate that spontaneous neural activity in the resting state is changed in patients with early PD, furthermore,
those abnormal neuronal activity should be considered in explaining findings in behavior deficits in early PD. This method is a potential tool to monitor the
progression of PD.
1965. Investigation of Brain Iron Content in Patients with Parkinson's Disease Using Phase and R 2
*
Obtained with Multi Echo Susceptibility Weighted Imaging
Christian Denk 1 , Samantha Palmer 2 , Martin J. McKeown 3 , Alexander Rauscher 1
1 UBC MRI Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; 2 Brain Research Centre, Vancouver, BC,
Canada; 3 Pacific Parkinson's Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
The main pathologic feature of Parkinson's disease (PD) is the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (Snc). There is increasing
evidence that iron-mediated oxidative stress via the Fenton reaction is responsible for this loss of neurons. Iron's paramagnetism leads to changes in the
relaxation rates R1, R2 and R2* and the phase of susceptibility weighted images (SWI). The aim of this study was therefore to use multi echo SWI for the
investigation of both phase and R2* relaxation in deep brain structures of patients with PD. The strongest correlation with phase to the UPDRS score of -0.5
was found in the medial SN pars compacta as well as the largest phase differences between PD patients and controls. A smaller correlation was found with
R2*, which is in agreement with previous studies of cerebral R2* in patients with PD.
1966. Susceptibility Mapping of the Substantia Nigra in Parkinson Patients at 7T
Andreas Schäfer 1 , Derek VM. Ott 1 , Almut Focke 2 , Johannes Schwarz 2 , Robert Turner 1 , Sonja A. Kotz 1
1 Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; 2 University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Parkinsonâ€s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in humans. It has been previously demonstrated that transverse relaxation
times change in Parkinson patients, supporting pathological findings of increased iron content in the substantia nigra. However, relaxation time is a quite
indirect measure of changes in iron concentration, and hard to quantify. Recent studies have used phase images to study neurodegenerative diseases, but this
method has the disadvantage that field perturbation maps derived from phase data are non-local. Our study demonstrates that local susceptibility maps,
directly indexing iron concentration, can be calculated from phase image data in Parkinson patients.
1967. A Single-Center, Phase 1, Open Label, Dosage-Escalation Study of Creatine Monohydrate in Subject
with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Eva-Maria Ratai 1,2 , Nazem Atassi, 2,3 , Stuart Wallace, 2,4 , Jeffery Bombardier 1 , David Greenblatt 5 , Merit
Cudkowicz, 2,3 , Allitia Dibernardo, 2,3
1 Department of Radiology, A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA,
United States; 2 Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; 3 Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA,
United States; 4 Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States; 5 Pharmacology & Experimental
Therapeutics, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the serum pharmacokinetics of orally administered creatine in subjects with ALS and to assess whether oral intake
produces increased concentrations of creatine in the brain utilizing in vivo MR Spectroscopy. Six ALS patients were enrolled in this open-label pilot study.
Patients escalated weekly through 3 different dose levels. Creatine serum levels increased with daily use of 5, 10, 15 gm BID. MR Spectroscopy results are
suggestive that creatine crosses the blood brain barrier when given at a high dose of 15 gm BID. Furthermore, glutamine and glutamate levels decreased
post treatment.
1968. Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Voxel-Based Relaxometry Study in ALS
Don Charles Bigler 1 , Claire Flaherty-Craig 2 , Yaman Aksu 3 , Byeong-Yeul Lee 4 , Kevin R. Scott 2 , Helen E.
Stephens 2 , Jeffrey J. Vesek 5 , Jianli Wang 5 , Michele L. Shaffer 6 , Paul J. Eslinger 2,5 , Zachary Simmons 2 , Qing
X. Yang 5,7
1 Psychiatry, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, United States; 2 Neurology, Penn State Hershey Medical Center,
Hershey, PA, United States; 3 Electrical Engineering, Penn State University, State College, PA, United States; 4 Bioengineering, Penn
State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, United States; 5 Radiology, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, United
States; 6 Public Health Sciences, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, United States; 7 Neurosurgery, Penn State Hershey
Medical Center, Hershey, PA, United States
The objectives of this study were to identify regions of T2 change in ALS cross-sectionally using VBR and determine the relationship of T2 with time,
disease duration, and disease severity longitudinally. T1-weighted and multi spin-echo images were acquired from 12 control and 12 ALS at baseline, 7 at 6
months, and 6 at 12 months. After post-processing clusters of significant T2 increase cross-sectionally were found in frontal and temporal areas.
Longitudinally, increased T2 was associated with disease duration mainly in frontal areas. Increased T2 in ALS is likely due to atrophy in cortical areas and
acute inflammation in subcortical regions.