Whole-brain proton MR spectroscopic imaging in Parkinson's disease.

Background And Purpose: To examine the distributions of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) observed metabolites in Parkinson's disease (PD) throughout the whole brain.

Methods: Twelve PD patients and 18 age-matched controls were studied using neuropsychological testing, MRI and volumetric MR spectroscopic imaging. Average values of signal normalized metabolite values for N-acetyl-aspartate, total-creatine, and total-choline (NAA, total-Cre, total-Cho, respectively) and their ratios were calculated for gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) in each lobar brain region.

Multi-modal hallucinations and cognitive function in Parkinson's disease.

Background/aims: Hallucinations have been linked to a constellation of cognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease (PD), but it is not known whether multi-modal hallucinations are associated with greater neuropsychological dysfunction.

Methods: 152 idiopathic PD patients were categorized based on the presence or absence of hallucinations and then were further subdivided into visual-only (VHonly; n = 35) or multi-modal (VHplus; n = 12) hallucination groups. All participants underwent detailed neuropsychological assessment.