Movement

A better understanding of the anatomical-functional organisation of the human brain is crucial for precision medicine and development of future disease-modifying therapies in movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and related disorders. Low field as well as ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging is used as a powerful tool to diagnose and monitor the principles of the pathophysiology of movement disorders, with a focus on both motor and non-motor (neuropsychiatric, cognitive) symptoms, and fine-tune clinical applications such as deep brain stimulation.  

Unique contributions and highlights

As disease-modifying therapies for movement disorders are being developed, early detection and reliable monitoring of clinical symptoms and disease progression is pivotal. We determined correlates of the complex neural network involved in non-motor symptoms of PD such as emotional processing (Moonen et al. PLoS One. 2017), apathy (Reijnders et al. Mov Disord. 2010) and cognitive impairment (Wolters et al. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2019). 

A grant from the Weijerhorst foundation was awarded to take the next step in the Understand-Track-Adjust Parkinson’s disease (UTAP) project. Ultra-high field imaging at 7T is now applied in early PD patients diagnosed within 3 years of diagnosis and monitored for 4 years in an unique large cohort of 135 PD patients and compared with healthy controls within the TRACK-PD study, in collaboration with the imaging group at the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience and Scannexus. Imaging correlates with a detailed set of genetic, motor and non-motor symptoms will be analysed. 
This study is coupled to a post-mortem study of 20 brains of PD patients that will be investigated with 9.4T MRI. In order to inform treatment planning directly, the organization of brain targets for deep brain stimulation (DBS) was studied in 17 PD patients scheduled for DBS to fine-tune the placement of electrodes and minimize side effects of stimulation.