MRI Epicenters Differentiate Spatiotemporal Patterns of Neurodegeneration in Parkinson's Disease.

ABSTRACT: Parkinson's disease (PD) exhibits clinical and neuropathological heterogeneity, potentially driven by distinct spatiotemporal neurodegenerative patterns. This study utilizes a connectivity-based MRI epicenter model combined with unsupervised clustering to identify unique degenerative epicenters in PD. Analyzing cross-sectional multi-modal MRI data from 278 PD patients and 177 healthy controls, this work identifies two distinct neurodegenerative epicenter patterns. Subtype 1 exhibits epicenters predominantly in cerebellar and midbrain regions associated with severe motor symptoms and rapid progression. Subtype 2 shows epicenters primarily in cortical and striatal regions with milder progression. These patterns are validated in an independent cohort of 66 PD patients and shows consistency in

SUBMITTER: Duanmu X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12677683 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature