ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Ultrasound imaging of vagus nerves in patients with Parkinson's disease

About authors

Research Center of Neurology, Moscow, Russia

Correspondence should be addressed: Andrey О. Chechetkin
Volokolamskoe shosse, 80, Moscow, 125367, Russia; moc.liamg@niktehcehcyerdna

About paper

Author contribution: Chechetkin AO — study design, acquisition of ultrasound imaging data, data interpretation, manuscript preparation; Moskalenko AN — clinical data acquisition, analysis and interpretation; Fedotova EYu, Illarioshkin SN — study design, manuscript editing.

Compliance with ethical standards: the study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Research Center of Neurology (Protocol No. 2-6/20 dated March 18, 2020)

Received: 2021-10-25 Accepted: 2021-11-11 Published online: 2021-11-24
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Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative multisystem disorder characterized by pathologic α-synuclein aggregation affecting, among other things, vagal fibers. The aim of this study was to investigate the cross-sectional area (CSA) of the vagus nerve (VN) in patients with PD using ultrasound imaging. The study was conducted in 32 patients with PD (15 men and 17 women; mean age 58 ± 10 years) and 32 healthy controls comparable with the main group in terms of sex and age. All study participants underwent ultrasound examination of the VN using a high-resolution transducer. Left VN CSA was significantly smaller in patients with PD than in the control group (1.78 ± 0.52 mm2 vs 2.11 ± 0.41 mm2; р = 0.007). A similar result was obtained for right VN CSA at the trend level. ROC analysis demonstrated that the threshold CSA value of < 2.10 mm2 for the left VN has low diagnostic sensivity (59%) for VN atrophy in patients with PD. Right VN CSA was significantly larger than left VN CSA in both groups (p < 0.001). The analysis of the PD group did not reveal any associations between VN CSA and age, duration and stage of the disease, motor (UPDRS III) and non-motor (NMSQ) scores. Patients with akinetic-rigid form of PD had smaller left VN CSA than patients with the mixed form of the disease (р < 0.05). A moderate inverse correlation was established between left VN CSA and the area of substantia nigra hyperechogenicity on both sides (р < 0.04); for the right VN a similar correlation was established at the trend level. High-resolution ultrasound of patients with PD demonstrated atrophy of the VN and the association of VN CSA with the clinical form of the disease and the ultrasound features of the substantia nigra.

Keywords: vagus nerve, ultrasound, Parkinson’s disease, cross-sectional area

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