Posterior hypoperfusion in Parkinson's disease with and without dementia measured with arterial spin labeling MRI.

PURPOSE: To determine whether quantitative arterial spin labeling (ASL) can be used to evaluate regional cerebral blood flow in Parkinson's disease with dementia (PDD) and without dementia (PD).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-five PD patients, 11 PDD patients, and 35 normal controls were scanned by using a quantitative ASL method with a 3 Tesla MRI unit. Regional cerebral blood flow was compared in the posterior cortex using region-of-interest analysis.
RESULTS: PD and PDD patients showed lower regional cerebral blood flow in the posterior cortex than normal controls (P = 0.002 and P = 0.001, respectively, analysis of variance with a Bonferroni post hoc test).
CONCLUSION: This is the first study to detect hypoperfusion in the posterior cortex in PD and PDD patients using ASL perfusion MRI. Because ASL perfusion MRI is completely noninvasive and can, therefore, safely be used for repeated assessments, this method can be used to monitor treatment effects or disease progression in PD.