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Atrophy pattern in SCA2 determined by voxel-based morphometry

2003; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 14; Issue: 14 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/00001756-200310060-00008

1473-558X

Christian Brenneis, Sylvia Bösch, Michael Schocke, Gregor K. Wenning, Werner Poewe,

Neurological and metabolic disorders

We applied voxel-based morphometry, an indirect volumetric technique, to MRI volumes of patients carrying the spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 mutation to determine patterns of brain atrophy. Nine patients were compared to 27 controls matched for age, sex and handedness. An optimised voxel-based morphometry protocol was used for pre-processing to minimize systematic bias. We observed significant volume loss in the cerebellar hemispheres, vermis, pons, mesencephalon and thalamus. Also affected were several supratentorial areas such as the right orbito-frontal cortex, right temporo-mesial cortex and the primary sensorimotor cortex bilaterally. The volumetric changes of cerebellar hemispheres were inversely correlated to cerebellar symptoms rated by a cerebellar ataxia scale. Two mechanisms could contribute to the observed cortical atrophy. It could be either the result of primary supratentorial degeneration as part of the disease process and/or secondary atrophy due to cerebellar deafferentation.