INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 02 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 08:00 am - 09:15 am Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120) Poster Session 02: Aging \| MCI \| Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 1 Final Abstract #72 Global Reductions in Perfusion are Associated with Worse Cognitive Performances in Parkinson's Disease Stephanie Nitschke, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States Kayla Julio, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States Nicholas Shaff, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States Andrei Vakhtin, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States Andrew Dodd, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States Gerson Suarez Cedeno, Nene and Jamie Koch Comprehensive Movement Disorder Center, Albuquerque, United States Amanda Deligtisch, Nene and Jamie Koch Comprehensive Movement Disorder Center, Albuquerque, United States Erik Erhardt, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, United States Yvette Matos, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States Kimberly Barnhart, 1The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States Henry Lin, Department of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, United States Hans Van Der Horn, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States Sarah Pirio Richardson, Nene and Jamie Koch Comprehensive Movement Disorder Center, Department of Neurology, University of New Mexico,, Albuquerque, United States Andrew Mayer, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States Sephira Ryman, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States Category: Movement and Movement Disorders Keyword 1: Parkinson's disease Keyword 2: cognitive functioning Keyword 3: neuropsychological assessment Objective: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder typically classified by motor and cognitive dysfunction. Recent studies have shown that cognitive decline can occur early in the disease course and continue to diminish as the disease progresses. While the etiological drivers of cognitive progression are unknown, reduced perfusion is associated with worse cognitive functioning in PD. Our recent analyses indicated that PD patients exhibited a significantly delayed cerebrovascular reactivity, suggesting that the delay in perfusion, which can be quantified using advanced magnetic resonance imaging. This delay in reactivity may be an important factor that contributes to cognitive progression in PD. To address this gap in the literature, we evaluated whether PD patients with normal cognition (PD-NC) and PD patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (PD-MCI) exhibit altered perfusion and arterial transfer time (ATT) relative to HC. Participants and Methods: 12 PD-NC, 16 PD-MCI and 23 HC participants were recruited and matched based on age, sex, and years of education. Each participant underwent a Pseudo-Continuous Arterial Spin Labeling (pCASL) sequence and a battery of neuropsychological testing. PD patients were diagnosed with MCI based on the Movement Disorders Society Task Force, Level II assessment (comprehensive assessment). Cognitive domain scores were calculated for Attention, Language, Memory, Visuospatial, and Executive abilities. pCASL images were processed using established methods to obtain voxelwise measurements of perfusion ATT. To minimize the number of comparisons, we quantified summary metrics that included: the average perfusion and ATT of the whole brain (WB), grey matter (GM), and white matter (WM). Analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were used to evaluate group differences in the summary metrics accounting for age, sex, and education. Regression analyses evaluated whether the summary metrics were associated with individual cognitive domain scores. Results: ANCOVA analyses indicated significant group effects for perfusion (GM: F_2,46 = 5.38, p = 0.008; WM: F_2,46 = 3.96, p = 0.03) and not ATT. Regression analyses indicated that increased perfusion was associated with Executive (GM: β = 0.08, t(26) =3.44, p = .002) and Memory (GM: β = 0.05, t(26) = 3.50, p = .002) domain scores, which consistent results using the GM, WM, and WB metrics. ATT measures indicated that longer delays in the WM were associated with better memory performances (WM: β = 11.00, t(26) = 2.31, p = 0.03). Conclusions: In contrast to our hypotheses, ATT was not significantly altered in PD-NC or PD-MCI. While we were likely underpowered to detect simple effects, there was no indication that larger sample sizes would result in significant differences in ATT. Perfusion measures, however, exhibited larger effect sizes and robust associations with cognitive functioning highlighting the importance of perfusion relative to ATT. It is possible that the delays in perfusion are so large (as suggested by our cerebrovascular reactivity analyses) that they cannot be captured using current pCASL measures. Future work is necessary to determine if the observed cerebrovascular reactivity delays are contributing to the observed reductions in perfusion in PD.

Poster

02/15/2024
08:00 am - 09:15 am
Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120)

Poster Session 02: Aging | MCI | Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 1

Final Abstract #72

Global Reductions in Perfusion are Associated with Worse Cognitive Performances in Parkinson's Disease

Stephanie Nitschke, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States
Kayla Julio, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States
Nicholas Shaff, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States
Andrei Vakhtin, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States
Andrew Dodd, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States
Gerson Suarez Cedeno, Nene and Jamie Koch Comprehensive Movement Disorder Center, Albuquerque, United States
Amanda Deligtisch, Nene and Jamie Koch Comprehensive Movement Disorder Center, Albuquerque, United States
Erik Erhardt, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, United States
Yvette Matos, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States
Kimberly Barnhart, 1The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States
Henry Lin, Department of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, United States
Hans Van Der Horn, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States
Sarah Pirio Richardson, Nene and Jamie Koch Comprehensive Movement Disorder Center, Department of Neurology, University of New Mexico,, Albuquerque, United States
Andrew Mayer, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States
Sephira Ryman, The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, United States

Category: Movement and Movement Disorders

Keyword 1: Parkinson's disease
Keyword 2: cognitive functioning
Keyword 3: neuropsychological assessment

Objective:

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder typically classified by motor and cognitive dysfunction. Recent studies have shown that cognitive decline can occur early in the disease course and continue to diminish as the disease progresses. While the etiological drivers of cognitive progression are unknown, reduced perfusion is associated with worse cognitive functioning in PD. Our recent analyses indicated that PD patients exhibited a significantly delayed cerebrovascular reactivity, suggesting that the delay in perfusion, which can be quantified using advanced magnetic resonance imaging. This delay in reactivity may be an important factor that contributes to cognitive progression in PD. To address this gap in the literature, we evaluated whether PD patients with normal cognition (PD-NC) and PD patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (PD-MCI) exhibit altered perfusion and arterial transfer time (ATT) relative to HC.

Participants and Methods:

12 PD-NC, 16 PD-MCI and 23 HC participants were recruited and matched based on age, sex, and years of education. Each participant underwent a Pseudo-Continuous Arterial Spin Labeling (pCASL) sequence and a battery of neuropsychological testing. PD patients were diagnosed with MCI based on the Movement Disorders Society Task Force, Level II assessment (comprehensive assessment). Cognitive domain scores were calculated for Attention, Language, Memory, Visuospatial, and Executive abilities. pCASL images were processed using established methods to obtain voxelwise measurements of perfusion ATT. To minimize the number of comparisons, we quantified summary metrics that included: the average perfusion and ATT of the whole brain (WB), grey matter (GM), and white matter (WM). Analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were used to evaluate group differences in the summary metrics accounting for age, sex, and education. Regression analyses evaluated whether the summary metrics were associated with individual cognitive domain scores.

Results:

ANCOVA analyses indicated significant group effects for perfusion (GM: F_2,46 = 5.38, p = 0.008; WM: F_2,46 = 3.96, p = 0.03) and not ATT. Regression analyses indicated that increased perfusion was associated with Executive (GM: β = 0.08, t(26) =3.44, p = .002) and Memory (GM: β = 0.05, t(26) = 3.50, p = .002) domain scores, which consistent results using the GM, WM, and WB metrics. ATT measures indicated that longer delays in the WM were associated with better memory performances (WM: β = 11.00, t(26) = 2.31, p = 0.03).

Conclusions:

In contrast to our hypotheses, ATT was not significantly altered in PD-NC or PD-MCI. While we were likely underpowered to detect simple effects, there was no indication that larger sample sizes would result in significant differences in ATT. Perfusion measures, however, exhibited larger effect sizes and robust associations with cognitive functioning highlighting the importance of perfusion relative to ATT. It is possible that the delays in perfusion are so large (as suggested by our cerebrovascular reactivity analyses) that they cannot be captured using current pCASL measures. Future work is necessary to determine if the observed cerebrovascular reactivity delays are contributing to the observed reductions in perfusion in PD.