Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Neurofilament Light in the Differentiation of Parkinsonism.

Objective: Accurate diagnosis is particularly challenging in Parkinson's disease (PD), multiple system atrophy (MSAp), and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). We compare the utility of 3 promising biomarkers to differentiate disease state and explain disease severity in parkinsonism: the Automated Imaging Differentiation in Parkinsonism (AID-P), the Magnetic Resonance Parkinsonism Index (MRPI), and plasma-based neurofilament light chain protein (NfL).

Methods: For each biomarker, the area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic curves were quantified for PD versus MSAp/PSP and MSAp versus PSP and statistically compared. Unique combinations of variables were also assessed. Furthermore, each measures association with disease severity was determined using stepwise multiple regression.

Results: For PD versus MSAp/PSP, AID-P (AUC, 0.900) measures had higher AUC compared with NfL (AUC, 0.747) and MRPI (AUC, 0.669), P < 0.05. For MSAp versus PSP, AID-P (AUC, 0.889), and MRPI (AUC, 0.824) measures were greater than NfL (AUC, 0.537), P < 0.05. We then combined measures to determine if any unique combination provided enhanced accuracy and found that no combination performed better than the AID-P alone in differentiating parkinsonisms. Furthermore, we found that the AID-P demonstrated the highest association with the MDS-UPDRS (R -AID-P, 26.58%; NfL,15.12%; MRPI, 12.90%).

Conclusions: Compared with MRPI and NfL, AID-P provides the best overall differentiation of PD versus MSAp/PSP. Both AID-P and MRPI are effective in differentiating MSAp versus PSP. Furthermore, combining biomarkers did not improve classification of disease state compared with using AID-P alone. The findings demonstrate in the current sample that the AID-P and MRPI are robust biomarkers for PD, MSAp, and PSP. © 2020 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.