PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - V. Dunet AU - J. Deverdun AU - C. Charroud AU - E. Le Bars AU - F. Molino AU - S. Menjot de Champfleur AU - F. Maury AU - M. Charif AU - X. Ayrignac AU - P. Labauge AU - G. Castelnovo AU - F. Pinna AU - A. Bonafe AU - C. Geny AU - N. Menjot de Champfleur TI - Cognitive Impairment and Basal Ganglia Functional Connectivity in Vascular Parkinsonism AID - 10.3174/ajnr.A4889 DP - 2016 Jul 14 TA - American Journal of Neuroradiology 4099 - http://www.ajnr.org/content/early/2016/07/14/ajnr.A4889.short 4100 - http://www.ajnr.org/content/early/2016/07/14/ajnr.A4889.full AB - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Patients with vascular parkinsonism have higher cognitive decline and more basal ganglia lesions. We aimed to evaluate the relationship of cognitive impairment with functional connectivity between the basal ganglia and cingulate cortex in vascular parkinsonism.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients (8 with vascular parkinsonism and 22 with Parkinson disease) and 23 controls were enrolled. The Mattis Dementia Rating Scale and the Stroop Task were used to assess cognitive decline. MR imaging examinations included T1-MPRAGE, FLAIR, and resting-state fMRI sequences. MPRAGE was segmented to obtain basal ganglia and cingulate cortex volumes. FLAIR was segmented to obtain white matter hyperintensity lesion volume. Resting-state fMRI sequences were used to compare basal ganglia functional connectivity with the cingulate cortex between patients and controls.RESULTS: Patients with vascular parkinsonism exhibited impaired attention, resistance to interference, and inhibitory control and an increased number of errors on the Stroop Task. They also had higher caudate nucleus and white matter hyperintensity lesion volumes, which were positively correlated (ρ = 0.75, P < .0001). Caudate nucleus functional connectivity with the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex was increased in patients with vascular parkinsonism compared with controls and patients with Parkinson disease, and it was positively correlated with the caudate nucleus volume (ρ = 0.44, P = .016). Caudate nucleus functional connectivity with the posterior cingulate cortex was decreased in patients with vascular parkinsonism compared with controls and negatively correlated with the number of errors on the Stroop test (ρ = −0.51, P = .0003).CONCLUSIONS: In patients with vascular parkinsonism, cognitive decline could be related to changes of caudate nucleus functional connectivity with the cingulate cortex at resting-state, which may be induced by ischemia-related remodelling.AbbreviationsBOLDblood oxygen level–dependentMNIMontreal Neurological InstitutePDParkinson diseaseVPvascular parkinsonismrsfMRIresting-state fMRIWMHLwhite matter hyperintensity lesions