T2 relaxation time in patients with Parkinson's disease

Postmortem studies of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) reveal an increase in iron concentration in the substantia nigra. Iron content in the brain is associated with decreased signal intensity on T2-weighted MRI. We measured in vivo the T2 relaxation time in 30 PD patients and 33 healthy volunteer subjects, using a 1.5-T whole-body MRI system. In comparison with healthy controls, T2 values in PD patients were reduced in the following brain regions: substantia nigra, caudate nucleus, and putamen. Due to the overlap between patients and control subjects, we could not differentiate, in a given patient, healthy from diseased state on the basis of T2 relaxation time. Our findings support the notion of increased iron deposition in the substantia nigra of patients with PD. However, the shortening of T2 values in the substantia nigra did not correlate with disease duration nor with clinical severity.