Search

Aims: The study aimed to investigate alterations in the inherent connectivity pattern of global functional networks in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with fatigue. Methods: Eighteen PD patients with fatigue (PD‐F), 20 PD patients without fatigue (PD‐NF), and 23 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited and analyzed by the voxel‐wise degree centrality (DC) and the seed‐based functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Meanwhile, the surface‐based morphometry (SBM) analysis was also commanded to explore the structural alternations among groups. Results: PD‐F patients displayed reduced DC values in the left postcentral gyrus relative to PD‐NF and HCs groups, while increased DC values in the bilateral precuneus compared to HCs. Simultaneously, altered DC value in the left postcentral gyrus negatively corresponded to the mean fatigue severity scale (FSS) in PD‐F patients. Additionally, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves uncovered that the reduced DC value of the left postcentral gyrus could discriminate PD‐F from PD‐NF and HCs groups. Our FC analysis further revealed that altered FC was located predominantly in the sensorimotor network in the PD‐F group. Moreover, we discovered no statistically significant differences between the three groups concerning cortical thickness. Conclusion: Our findings indicated that the altered functional connectivity in the sensorimotor network centering on the left postcentral gyrus and the bilateral precuneus might be the potential pathogenesis of PD with fatigue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Freezing of gait is a common complaint in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the neural bases of freezing of gait in PD remain uncertain. Existing studies on PD patients with freezing of gait (PD-FOG+) have reported damage of the corpus callosum, the largest commissural bundle of the brain. Thus, in this study we explored homotopic connectivity to investigate FOG-related interehemispheric alterations METHODS: A total of 21 PD-FOG + patients, 33 PD patients without freezing of gait (PD-FOG-), and 24 matched healthy controls were recruited. All PD patients were evaluated via the FOG questionnaire (FOGQ) and all subjects had a resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scan. The pattern of the homotopic connectivity was measured with the voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) approach.Result: The PD-FOG + patients showed decreased VMHC values in the inferior parietal lobe (IPL) compared to both PD-FOG-patients and healthy controls. In PD-FOG + patients, the mean VMHC values in the IPL were negatively correlated with the FOGQ scores. Receiver operating characteristic curves analyses revealed that the VMHC in the IPL had discriminatory function distinguishing PD-FOG + patients from PD-FOG-patients or healthy controls.Conclusion: Decreased VMHC values of PD-FOG + patients relative to PD-FOG- and healthy controls in IPL maybe a unique feature for PD-FOG+ and it may have the ability to separate PD-FOG + patients from PD-FOG- and healthy controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]