Imaging Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in Parkinson's Disease

Sanskriti Sasikumar; Antonio P Strafella

doi:10.3389/fneur.2020.00047

Imaging Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in Parkinson's Disease

Front Neurol. 2020 Jan 31:11:47. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00047. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Sanskriti Sasikumar¹, Antonio P Strafella^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Neurology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² Morton and Gloria Shulman Movement Disorder Unit & E. J. Safra Parkinson Disease Program, Neurology Division, Department of Medicine, Toronto Western Hospital, UHN, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
³ Research Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Division of Brain, Imaging and Behaviour - Systems Neuroscience, Krembil Research Institute, UHN, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Cognitive dysfunction is a significant non-motor feature of Parkinson's disease, with the risk of dementia increasing with prolonged disease duration. Multiple cognitive domains are affected, and the pathophysiology cannot be explained by dopaminergic loss alone. Sophisticated neuroimaging techniques can detect the nature and extent of extra-nigral involvement by targeting neurotransmitters, abnormal protein aggregates and tissue metabolism. This review identifies the functional and anatomical imaging characteristics that predict cognitive impairment in PD, the limitations that challenge this process, and the avenues of potential research.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease; biomarker; dementia; imaging; mild cognitive impairment.

Publication types

Review