ORIGINAL RESEARCH Regional Volume Analysis of the Parkinson Disease Brain in Early Disease Stage: Gray Matter, White Matter, Striatum, and Thalamus

RESULTS: A comparison of the PD group with the control group revealed an absence of significant differences between them regarding age and MMSE scores. Comparison of the volumes of regional brain structures of patients with PD with those of controls revealed the presence of significant differences in the caudate nucleus, thalamus, and WM (P .05) between the groups. However, there were no significant differences in the volumes of the putamen and GM or in ICV between patients with PD and controls. The results of ANCOVA by using the covariates of age and ICV showed a significant difference in the caudate nucleus, thalamus, and WM between patients with PD and controls (P .05). CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that loss of WM volume may occur in early disease stages and that variation of the volumes of the caudate nucleus and thalamus may be an early phenomenon of disease progression.