Corneal confocal microscopy may help to distinguish Multiple System Atrophy from Parkinson's disease.

ABSTRACT: Multiple system atrophy (MSA) and Parkinson's disease (PD) have clinical overlapping symptoms, which makes differential diagnosis difficult. Our research aimed to distinguish MSA from PD using corneal confocal microscopy (CCM), a noninvasive and objective test. The study included 63 PD patients, 30 MSA patients, and 31 healthy controls (HC). When recruiting PD and MSA, questionnaires were conducted on motor and non-motor functions, such as autonomic and cognitive functions. Participants underwent CCM to quantify the corneal nerve fibers. Corneal nerve fiber density (CNFD) and corneal nerve fiber length (CNFL) values in MSA are lower than PD (MSA vs. PD: CNFD, 20.68 ± 6.70 vs. 24.64 ± 6.43 no./mm², p < 0.05; CNFL, 12.01 ± 3.25 vs. 14.17 ± 3.52 no./mm², p < 0.05). In MS

SUBMITTER: Niu X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10944503 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature