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Cerebral blood flow and cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease

Laboratory of Cerebrovascular Research, Department of Neurology (Dr. Globus, Ms. Mildworf, and Dr. Melamed), Hadassah University Hospital; and Neurology Service. Department of Internal Medicine (Dr. Globus), Bikur Cholim Hospital, Hebrew University—Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.

In Parkinson's disease, there is high prevalence of dementia, reduction of the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), and neuronal loss and Alzheimer-like pathologic changes in cerebral cortex. Since rCBF is also decreased in Alzheimer's dementia, it is theoretically possible that both decreases in rCBF and cognitive impairment in parkinsonians are caused by a similar mechanism, eg, reduced metabolic demand or loss of cholinergic neurons innervating cortex and microvessels. We therefore measured rCBF using the ¹³³Xenon inhalation technique and evaluated cognitive function with a detailed neuropsychological test battery in 48 patients with Parkinson's disease. Mean brain, hemispheric, and regional flows were decreased in parkinsonians as compared with those in age-matched controls. Most of the cognitive functions were impaired in patients as compared with those in normal subjects. However, there was no correlation between the magnitude of rCBF reduction and the presence and severity of intellectual deterioration in parkinsonians, suggesting that each may be caused by a different mechanism.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Melamed, Department of Neurolngy, Hadassah University Hospital, P. O. B. 12000, Jerusalem, Israel.

Supported in part by grants from the Israel Institute for Psychobiology—Charles E. Smith Family Foundation; the American Parkinson's Disease Association; the Center for Brain Science and Metabolism, Cambridge, Massachusetts: and the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation.

Presented in part at the thirty-sixth annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Boston, MA, April 1984.

Accepted for publication November 19, 1984.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. Kawabata, H. Tachibana, and M. Sugita Cerebral Blood Flow and Dementia in Parkinson's Disease J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol, October 1, 1991; 4(4): 194 - 203. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. L. Cummings Intellectual Impairment in Parkinson's Disease: Clinical, Pathologic, and Biochemical Correlates J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol, January 1, 1988; 1(1): 24 - 36. [Abstract] [PDF]