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Midbrain-to-pons ratio in autopsy-confirmed progressive supranuclear palsy: replication in an independent cohort

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Abstract

Recent neuropathologically confirmed clinical data suggest that the midbrain-to-pons ratio, as calculated from conventional brain MRI, has high specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Here, we aimed to replicate these findings in an independent autopsy-confirmed cohort of 6 PSP patients and 23 non-PSP patients. Patients with confirmed PSP had clearly lower midbrain-to-pons ratios compared to non-PSP patients (p < 0.0001). All non-PSP patients had midbrain-to-pons ratios higher than 0.50, whereas all but one PSP patient had a ratio lower than 0.50. The positive predictive value (PPV) of the ratio (<0.50) was 100% and the negative predictive value (NPV) was 95.8 %. The results of this second autopsy-confirmed sample confirm that midbrain-to-brain ratios constitute reliable and clinically useful estimates of diagnostic midbrain atrophy in relation to PSP pathology.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Academy of Finland (Grant #256836) and the Turku University Hospital (ERVA-funds).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Clinical Neurosciences, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, POB 52, 20521, Turku, Finland

    Valtteri Kaasinen, Noora Kangassalo & Juuso Isotalo

  2. Turku PET Centre, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Valtteri Kaasinen

  3. Department of Pathology, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Maria Gardberg

  4. Department of Radiology, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Jari Karhu, Riitta Parkkola & Pirkko Sonninen

Authors
  1. Valtteri Kaasinen
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  2. Noora Kangassalo
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  3. Maria Gardberg
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  4. Juuso Isotalo
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  5. Jari Karhu
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  6. Riitta Parkkola
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  7. Pirkko Sonninen
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Correspondence to Valtteri Kaasinen.

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Kaasinen, V., Kangassalo, N., Gardberg, M. et al. Midbrain-to-pons ratio in autopsy-confirmed progressive supranuclear palsy: replication in an independent cohort. Neurol Sci 36, 1251–1253 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-015-2184-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-015-2184-3

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