PURPOSE Micro fractional anisotropy (μFA) is more accurate than conventional fractional anisotropy (FA) for assessing microscopic tissue properties and can overcome limitations related to crossing white matter fibres. We compared μFA and FA for evaluating white matter changes in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS We compared FA and μFA measures between 25 patients with PD and 25 age- and gender-matched healthy controls using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) analysis. We also examined potential correlations between changes, revealed by conventional FA or μFA, and disease duration or Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS)-III scores. RESULTS Compared with healthy controls, patients with PD had significantly reduced μFA values, mainly in the anterior corona radiata (ACR). In the PD group, μFA values (primarily those from the ACR) were significantly negatively correlated with UPDRS-III motor scores. No significant changes or correlations with disease duration or UPDRS-III scores with tissue properties were detected using conventional FA. CONCLUSION μFA can evaluate microstructural changes that occur during white matter degeneration in patients with PD and may overcome a key limitation of FA.

中文翻译：

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使用微观分数各向异性评估帕金森氏病患者的白质微观结构。

目的微分数各向异性（μFA）比常规分数各向异性（FA）更准确，可以评估微观组织特性，并且可以克服与交叉白质纤维有关的局限性。我们比较了μFA和FA来评估帕金森氏病（PD）患者的白质变化。方法我们使用基于道的空间统计（TBSS）分析比较了25例PD患者与25例年龄和性别匹配的健康对照者的FA和μFA指标。我们还检查了常规FA或μFA揭示的变化与疾病持续时间或统一帕金森氏疾病评分量表（UPDRS）-III评分之间的潜在相关性。结果与健康对照组相比，PD患者的μFA值显着降低，主要是在前冠状辐射（ACR）中。在PD组中，μFA值（主要来自ACR）与UPDRS-III运动评分显着负相关。使用常规FA未检测到疾病持续时间或UPDRS-III评分与组织性质的显着变化或相关性。结论μFA可以评估PD患者白质变性期间发生的微结构变化，并且可以克服FA的关键局限性。