Perfusion-weighted dynamic susceptibility (DSC) MRI: basal ganglia hemodynamic changes after apomorphine in Parkinson's disease

Relative regional blood flow of basal ganglia was studied by means of perfusion-weighted dynamic susceptibility (DSC) MRI. Parkinson's disease (PD) patients showed a significant inter-hemispheric asymmetry due to a higher perfusion in the more affected side, while normal subjects did not. PD exhibited an abnormal “asymmetry index” in the measured nuclei. A second DSC-MRI examination performed after subcutaneous apomorphine administration did not show any significant asymmetry in PD patients. DSC-MRI of basal ganglia confirms the asymmetry observed in PET studies of PD patients, suggesting that this method is a promising and low-cost technique in neurodegenerative diseases.