Parkinson's disease (PD), multisystem atrophy (MSA), and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) present similarly with bradykinesia, tremor, rigidity, and cognitive impairments. Neuroimaging studies have found differential changes in the nigrostriatal pathway in these disorders, however whether the volume and shape of specific regions within this pathway can distinguish between atypical Parkinsonian disorders remains to be determined. This paper investigates striatal and thalamic volume and morphology as distinguishing biomarkers, and their relationship to neuropsychiatric symptoms. Automatic segmentation to calculate volume and shape analysis of the caudate nucleus, putamen, and thalamus were performed in 18 PD patients, 12 MSA, 15 PSP, and 20 healthy controls, then correlated with clinical measures. PSP bilateral thalami and right putamen were significantly smaller than controls, but not MSA or PD. The left caudate and putamen significantly correlated with the Neuropsychiatric Inventory total score. Bilateral thalamus, caudate, and left putamen had significantly different morphology between groups, driven by differences between PSP and healthy controls. This study demonstrated that PSP patient striatal and thalamic volume and shape are significantly different when compared with controls. Parkinsonian disorders could not be differentiated on volumetry or morphology, however there are trends for volumetric and morphological changes associated with PD, MSA, and PSP.

帕金森病 (PD)、多系统萎缩症 (MSA) 和进行性核上性麻痹 (PSP) 与运动迟缓、震颤、强直和认知障碍相似。神经影像学研究发现这些疾病中黑质纹状体通路的差异变化，然而该通路内特定区域的体积和形状是否可以区分非典型帕金森病仍有待确定。本文研究了纹状体和丘脑的体积和形态作为区分生物标志物，及其与神经精神症状的关系。对 18 名 PD 患者、12 名 MSA、15 名 PSP 和 20 名健康对照者进行了自动分割，以计算尾状核、壳核和丘脑的体积和形状分析，然后与临床测量结果进行关联。PSP 双侧丘脑和右壳核明显小于对照组，但 MSA 或 PD 则不然。左侧尾状核和壳核与神经精神量表总分显着相关。由于 PSP 和健康对照之间的差异，双侧丘脑、尾状核和左壳核在各组之间具有显着的形态差异。这项研究表明，与对照组相比，PSP 患者纹状体和丘脑的体积和形状显着不同。帕金森病无法通过体积或形态来区分，但存在与 PD、MSA 和 PSP 相关的体积和形态变化趋势。