Asymmetrical ventricular enlargement in Parkinson's disease

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) typically manifests with asymmetric motor symptom onset. Ventricular enlargement, a nonspecific measure of brain atrophy, has been associated with cognitive decline in PD, but not with motor symptom asymmetry. Asymmetrical ventricular enlargement on magnetic resonance images was explored in a monozygotic twin pair discordant for PD and in nine healthy monozygotic twin pairs. The left-right lateral ventricular volumetric difference of the PD-twin was greater than that of his twin and all other healthy twins, with the larger ventricle observed contralateral to the more symptomatic side. Moreover, the lateral ventricle asymmetry difference between twin pairs was significantly higher for the discordant PD-twin pair than for the healthy twin pairs. This is the first report to suggest the presence of asymmetrical ventricular enlargement in PD, findings that may be worthy of further study.

Medical Subject Headings

Adult; Cerebral Ventricles (pathology); Diseases in Twins; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Parkinson Disease (pathology); Twin Studies as Topic

Publication Date

8-15-2007

Publication Title

Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society

ISSN

0885-3185

Volume

22

Issue

11

First Page

1657

Last Page

60

PubMed ID

17588238

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1002/mds.21626

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