Universality analysis of the existence of substantia nigra “swallow tail” appearance of non-Parkinson patients in 3T SWI

P. Gao, P.-Y. Zhou, P.-Q. Wang, G.-B. Zhang, J.-Z. Liu, F. Xu, F. Yang, X.-X. Wu, G. Li

Department of Radiology, Xiangyang Hospital Affiliated to Hubei University of Medicine, Xiangyang, Hubei, China. 601992203@qq.com

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• Neurology

OBJECTIVE: To use the 3.0T susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) for universality analysis of the “swallow tail” appearance in the substantia nigra of non-Parkinson disease and discuss its lack of the value of imaging diagnosis of Parkinson disease (PD).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Take 3.0TMR SWI in 60 PD patients (Group PD) and non-PD volunteers (Group N-PD), on the map of range analyze morphology and number of “swallow tail” appearance in substantia nigra of N-PD group volunteers, and compare the performance image of the corresponding region of the patients in the PD group.

RESULTS: After, 15 patients with lesions in the brain stem and significant motion artifacts were excluded. Forty-nine cases of group N-PD (96.08%) had typical “swallow tail” appearance in the bilateral or unilateral substantia nigra compacta posterolateral. All 54 patients with group PD (100%) lacked the “drop” rear elliptical high signal.

CONCLUSIONS: On the 3.0T SWI range map, the “swallow tail” appearance is ubiquitous in the substantia nigra of patients with non-PD. The deficiency of the signs has high sensitivity and specificity for PD diagnosis.

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