• SUBSTANTIA NIGRA ECHOGENICITY IS CORRELATED WITH NIGROSTRIATAL IMPAIRMENT IN MACHADO-JOSEPH DISEASE

    M. De Lima Oliveira 1, J. Luiz Pedroso 2, P. Braga Neto 3, M. Ferreira Machado 4, R. Nogueira 5, O. Graziani Povoas Barsottin 6, E. Bor-Seng-Shu 7
    1 Department of Neurolgy, University Hospital of São Paulo,
    2 Department of Neurology, Medical Faculty, Federal University of São Paulo,
    3 Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein – São Paulo, Brazil

    Objective: Several studies have demonstrated increased substantia nigra (SN) in Parkinson's disease (PD), and Machado Joseph disease (MJD). Pathological substrate of PD is characterized by dopaminergic nigrostriatal cell loss, also found in MJD. Also, SN hiperechogenicity might be associated with nigrostriatal disfunction in PD, when comparing dopamine transport binding with SN echogenicity. The present study aimed to correlate the SN echogenicity size and striatal dopamine transporter density in MJD patients.