Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of early drug-naïve PD patients.
Fig 1.
[123I]FP-CIT SPECT images in Parkinson’s disease patients with and without dysphagia.
(A) 63-year-old healthy control showing typical [123I]FP-CIT specific binding ratios in the caudate (SBR: 3.87) and putamen (SBR: 2.65) (B) 63-year-old male without swallowing difficulties exhibiting slight dopaminergic deficits as reflected by [123I]FP-CIT specific binding ratios in the caudate (SBR: 2.92) and putamen (SBR: 2.15); (C) 63-year-old female with swallowing difficulties demonstrating larger striatal dopaminergic deficits as reflected by [123I]FP-CIT specific binding ratios in the caudate (SBR: 1.00) and putamen (SBR: 0.58).
Fig 2.
Presynaptic dopaminergic deficit in the group of early drug-naïve PD patients with and without dysphagia.
Box-plot showing decreased [123I]FP-CIT uptakes in the (A) striatum and (B) caudate of early drug-naïve PD patients with swallowing difficulties. Correlations between the degree of swallowing impairment (MDS-UPDRS-II, item 2.3) and [123I]FP-CIT uptake in the (C) striatum (rho = −0.157; P = 0.002) and (D) caudate (rho = −0.156; P = 0.002) of early drug-naïve PD patients. SD = Swallowing difficulties.
Table 2.
[123I]FP-CIT uptakes in Striatum for the groups of early drug-naïve PD patients with and without dysphagia.