Transcranial sonography of the substantia nigra and its correlation with DAT-SPECT in the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease

Introductions: Transcranial sonography (TCS) of the substantia nigra is a new and promising method to diagnose Parkinson's disease (PD) but its effectiveness is controversial. Methods: All 55 PD patients involved in the study underwent single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging using the labeled dopamine transporter radiotracer Tc-99m-TRODAT-1 to assess nigrostriatal dopaminergic function. The echogenicity of the substantia nigra was measured by TCS in all patients who received DAT-SPECT scanning. Finally, statistical analysis was carried out to determine the diagnostic accuracy of TCS as well as its correlation with Tc-99m-TRODAT-1 SPECT, its positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV). Results: Contralateral striatal Tc-99m-TRODAT-1 uptake was significantly reduced compared to ipsilateral striatal uptake, and had a negative correlation with UPDRS-III(r = -0.334, p = 0.013), disease duration (r = -0.393, p = 0.003) and H-Y stage (r = -0.330, p = 0.014). After TCS measurement, the contralateral SN echogenic area was similar to the ipsilateral SN echogenic area (27.77 +/- 13.19 vs 25.98 +/- 11.94 mm(2), p = 0.402, n = 24). No correlation was identified between TCS and UPDRS-III (r = 0.383, p = 0.065), disease duration (r = 0.371, p = 0.075) or H Y stage (r = 0.259, p = 0.222). The sensitivity and specificity of SN TCS for the diagnosis of PD were calculated as 64.70% and 60% according to DAT-SPECT, respectively, while the positive predictive value and negative predictive value was calculated as 91.67% and 20%, respectively. Conclusions: Compared to DAT-SPECT, TCS is a non-radioactive and convenient procedure to perform. In our investigation, TCS had no correlation with DAT-SPECT. However, the high positive predictive value of TCS highlights its possible utility as a routine diagnostic test. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.