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Functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound for Monitoring Cerebral Blood Flow
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Cerebrovascular function during cognition in Parkinson's disease: A functional transcranial Doppler sonography study
Daria S Gutteridge1, Dimitrios Saredakis1, Nicholas A Badcock2
1Cognitive Ageing and Impairment Neurosciences Laboratory, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia, Australia.
Journal of the Neurological Sciences
|November 22, 2019
Summary
Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients exhibit greater variability in cerebrovascular blood flow during cognitive tasks compared to controls. This variability, not seen in normal aging, is linked to executive function deficits in PD, suggesting neurovascular coupling abnormalities.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cerebrovascular Medicine
- Cognitive Neurology
Background:
- Cerebrovascular abnormalities are increasingly linked to cognitive impairment in Parkinson's Disease (PD).
- Understanding the neurophysiological basis of cognitive decline in PD is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare cerebrovascular functioning during cognitive tasks and at rest between individuals with and without PD.
- To investigate the relationship between cerebrovascular function and cognitive performance in PD.
Main Methods:
- Functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD) measured middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity in 30 PD patients and 30 controls during a word generation task.
- Analysis included lateralisation index, peak velocities, and their variability within hemispheres.
Main Results:
- Parkinson's Disease patients showed significantly higher variability in the lateralisation index compared to controls.
- No significant differences were found in the lateralisation index itself or peak velocities between groups.
- Within-group variability in peak velocities in PD patients correlated positively with executive function test performance.
Conclusions:
- Cerebrovascular functional changes in PD differ from normal aging, characterized by increased within-subject variability.
- Observed variability suggests abnormalities in neurovascular coupling in PD.
- Cerebrovascular dysfunction is implicated in the executive functioning deficits seen in Parkinson's Disease.
