Voxel-Based Morphometry of Cerebellar Lobules in Essential Tremor
2021 (English)In: Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, E-ISSN 1663-4365, Vol. 13, article id 667854Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Background: The extent of neurodegeneration underlying essential tremor (ET) remains a matter of debate. Despite various extents of cerebellar atrophy on structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), previous studies have shown substantial heterogeneity and included a limited number of patients. Novel automated pipelines allow detailed segmentation of cerebellar lobules based on structural MRI. Objective: To compare the volumes of cerebellar lobules in ET patients with those in healthy controls (HCs) using an automated segmentation pipeline. Methods: Structural MRI scans of ET patients eligible for deep brain stimulation (n = 55) and of age-matched and gender-matched HCs (n = 55, from the IXI database) were segmented using the automated CEREbellum Segmentation pipeline. Lobule-specific volume differences between the ET and HC groups were evaluated using a general linear model corrected for multiple tests. Results: Total brain tissue volumes did not differ between the ET and HC groups. ET patients demonstrated reduced volumes of lobules I-II, left Crus II, left VIIB, and an increased volume of right X when compared with the HC group. Conclusion: A large cohort of ET patients demonstrated subtle signs of decreased cerebellar lobule volumes. These findings oppose the hypothesis of localized atrophy in cerebellar motor areas in ET, but not the possibility of cerebellar pathophysiology in ET. Prospective investigations using alternative neuroimaging modalities may further elucidate the pathophysiology of ET and provide insights into diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Frontiers Media S.A., 2021. Vol. 13, article id 667854
Keywords [en]
cerebellum, essential tremor, lobule volume, structural MRI, voxel-based morphometry
National Category
Neurosciences Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging Neurology
Research subject
Neurosurgery
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-185747DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.667854ISI: 000664968300001PubMedID: 34177554Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85108719695OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-185747DiVA, id: diva2:1577943
2021-07-052021-07-052024-07-04Bibliographically approved