• Jooyeon Jamie Im, Hyeonseok Jeong, Yong-An Chung, Jong-Sik Park, Youngje Heo, Jin Kyoung Oh, and In-Uk Song.
• Department of Radiology, Incheon St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
• J Neuroimaging. 2019 Nov 1; 29 (6): 707-711.

Background And PurposeDespite accumulating evidence for the clinical efficacy and neuroprotective properties of rasagiline in Parkinson's disease (PD), effects of rasagiline on brain perfusion in PD patients have not been elucidated. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of rasagiline on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients with PD using single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).MethodsA total of 44 PD patients were recruited and treated with dopamine agonist, either alone or in combination with levodopa. Twenty-two of these patients (referred to as the rasagiline group) additionally received rasagiline (1 mg/day). All patients underwent brain SPECT scans and clinical assessments at baseline and follow-up visits. The mean follow-up period was 2.2 years. Changes in rCBF were compared between the rasagiline group and the comparison group in a voxel-wise manner.ResultsAnnual change in Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale motor score was lower in the rasagiline group compared to the comparison group (P = .01). A significant group-by-time interaction effect on rCBF was found in the right precuneus (P = .001), where rCBF was decreased in the comparison group and remained stable in the rasagiline group.ConclusionsOur results show that adjunctive rasagiline treatment had beneficial effects on perfusion in the precuneus of PD patients, suggesting potential neuroprotective effects.© 2019 by the American Society of Neuroimaging.

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