Visualizing the deep cerebellar nuclei using quantitative susceptibility mapping: An application in healthy controls, Parkinson's disease patients and essential tremor patients

• Published in: Human brain mapping Vol. 44; no. 4; pp. 1810 - 1824
• Main Authors: Zhang, Youmin, Huang, Pei, Wang, Xinhui, Xu, Qiuyun, Liu, Yu, Jin, Zhijia, Li, Yan, Cheng, Zenghui, Tang, Rongbiao, Chen, Shengdi, He, Naying, Yan, Fuhua, Haacke, E. Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.03.2023
• Subjects: Cerebellar Nuclei - diagnostic imaging; Cerebellum; Cerebrovascular disease; Contraindications; Correlation analysis; deep cerebellar nuclei; Disease control; essential tremor; Essential Tremor - diagnostic imaging; Gait; Humans; Image acquisition; Iron; Magnetic permeability; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Magnetic susceptibility; Mapping; Medical imaging; Movement disorders; Neurodegenerative diseases; Nuclei; Parkinson Disease - diagnostic imaging; Parkinson's disease; Patients; quantitative susceptibility mapping; Susceptibility; Tomography; Tremor; Tremor (Muscular contraction); Tremors; Variance analysis; Visualization; deep cerebellar nuclei; essential tremor; quantitative susceptibility mapping; Parkinson's disease
• ISSN: 1065-9471; 1097-0193; 1097-0193
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26178

The visualization and identification of the deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN) (dentate [DN], interposed [IN] and fastigial nuclei [FN]) are particularly challenging. We aimed to visualize the DCN using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), predict the contrast differences between QSM and T2* weighted imaging, and compare the DCN volume and susceptibility in movement disorder populations and healthy controls (HCs). Seventy‐one Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, 39 essential tremor patients, and 80 HCs were enrolled. The PD patients were subdivided into tremor dominant (TD) and postural instability/gait difficulty (PIGD) groups. A 3D strategically acquired gradient echo MR imaging protocol was used for each subject to obtain the QSM data. Regions of interest were drawn manually on the QSM data to calculate the volume and susceptibility. Correlation analysis between the susceptibility and either age or volume was performed and the intergroup differences of the volume and magnetic susceptibility in all the DCN structures were evaluated. For the most part, all the DCN structures were clearly visualized on the QSM data. The susceptibility increased as a function of volume for both the HC group and disease groups in the DN and IN (p < .001) but not the FN (p = .74). Only the volume of the FN in the TD‐PD group was higher than that in the HCs (p = .012), otherwise, the volume and susceptibility among these four groups did not differ significantly. In conclusion, QSM provides clear visualization of the DCN structures. The results for the volume and susceptibility of the DCN can be used as baseline references in future studies of movement disorders. Using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) to visualize the deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN) structures. A relatively long TE is recommended to visualize the dentate nuclei in conventional GRE images. Standardization values were provided for iron content and volume for the DCN in elderly individuals.