Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40268921›Full record

ArticleNPJ Parkinson's disease2025

Midbrain and pallidal iron changes identify patients with REM sleep behaviour disorder and Parkinson's disease.

Erind Alushaj, Alan Kuurstra, Ravi S Menon, Hooman Ganjavi, Anisa Morava, Manas Sharma, Alia Kashgari, Jennifer Barr, William Reisman, Ali R Khan and 1 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in NPJ Parkinson's disease, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Erind AlushajDepartment of Neuroscience, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Alan KuurstraRobarts Research Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Ravi S MenonRobarts Research Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Hooman GanjaviDepartment of Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Anisa MoravaSchool of Kinesiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Manas SharmaDepartment of Radiology, Western University, London, ON, Canada.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0947-1282
Alia KashgariDepartment of Medicine, Respirology Division, Western University, London, ON, Canada.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0007-4505-2081
Jennifer BarrDepartment of Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
William ReismanDepartment of Medicine, Respirology Division, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Ali R KhanRobarts Research Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Penny A MacDonaldWestern Centre for Brain and Mind, Western University, London, ON, Canada. penny.macdonald@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1817-2383

Funding

Gouvernement du Canada | Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Instituts de Recherche en Santé du Canada) 201903
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Idiopathic REM sleep behaviour disorder (iRBD) is considered a prodromal form of Parkinson's Disease (PD), potentially exhibiting similar patterns of neurodegeneration, such as brain iron changes. We investigated midbrain and pallidal iron using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) in 16 iRBD patients, 30 PD patients, and 38 age-matched healthy controls (HCs) with 3T MRI. QSM revealed elevated substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) mean susceptibility in both iRBD and PD patient groups compared to HCs, though iRBD and PD QSM measures did not differ. There were no SN pars reticulata group differences. Mean susceptibility was reduced for PD relative to iRBD and HCs in the globus pallidus externa (GPe). Furthermore, mean susceptibility was reduced for PD relative to iRBD in the GP interna (GPi). GPe/GPi mean susceptibility decreased with PD subgroup motor severity. Consistent with this, QSM in left GPi and MDS-UPDRS-III scores correlated negatively in PD patients, as well as in iRBD and PD patients combined. PD patients also evidenced higher mean susceptibility in the right ventral tegmental area (VTA) compared to iRBD and HCs, consistent with later VTA degeneration. RBD symptomatology did not correlate with QSM values. Combining SNc, GPe, GPi, and VTA QSM values, we distinguished iRBD-HCs, PD-HCs, and iRBD-PD patients at single-subject levels (0.84, 0.86, and 0.81 accuracies), using ROC curve analyses with repeated k-folds cross-validation. Using 3T MRI, QSM values in SNc, GPe, GPi, and VTA demonstrate promise as investigational measures and diagnostic/progression biomarkers of prodromal and early PD.

Identifiers

PMID40268921
PMCPMC12019255

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.