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Please send me Dr. Spahr phone number or general email please. My mom was a patient at University of Chicago and my Dad at Evanston Hospital. Mom had liver disease and grandma had similar findings. Mom died young at 62 years. She had a Liver Transplant. Thank you. Judith Richards wrote: > > Parkinsonian signs correlate with basal ganglia changes in cirrhosis > patients > > WESTPORT, Sep 11, 2000 (Reuters Health) - Magnetic resonance imaging > (MRI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) reveal basal > ganglia abnormalities in cirrhotic patients with parkinsonian signs, > according to a report in the September issue of Gastroenterology. > > Previous reports of MRI and MRS abnormalities in patients with cirrhosis > have not clearly been linked to neurologic or cognitive impairment, the > authors explain. Moreover, parkinsonian signs have only occasionally > been investigated in patients with hepatic encephalopathy due to > cirrhosis. > > Dr. Laurent Spahr and colleagues, from University Hospital, in Geneva, > Switzerland, conducted MRI and MRS studies on 19 patients with > cirrhosis awaiting liver transplants and compared the results with the > patients' parkinsonian signs, as measured by the Unified Parkinson's > Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and the Purdue Pegboard test. > > On MRI, occipital white matter and all basal ganglia tissue except > thalamus exhibited significant signal hyperintensity in patients with > cirrhosis > and mild hepatic encephalopathy, the authors report. > > As previously seen in MRS studies of patients with cirrhosis, the > myoinositol/creatine and choline/creatine ratios were decreased and the > glutamine-glutamate/creatine ratio slightly increased in patients with > mild > hepatic encephalopathy, the investigators note. > > In these patients, MRI intensities in the pallidum, caudate, and putamen > correlated positively with UPDRS scores, the report indicates. > Similarly, > there were correlations between MRS findings and either UPDRS scores > or Purdue Pegboard scores. In three patients who were retested after > successful liver transplantations, MRI signal alterations disappeared > and > MRS findings normalized. > > The authors conclude that the findings support "the view of clinically > significant basal ganglia alterations in these patients." > > Gastroenterology 2000;119:774-781. > Copyright © 2000 Reuters Limited. > > -- > Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada > [log in to unmask] > Today’s Research... > Tomorrow’s Cure