Impaired interhemispheric synchrony in Parkinson's disease patients with progressive cognitive impairment

Motivation: Cognitive decline is a common non-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the neural mechanisms of PD cognitive changes remain unclear. Goal(s): We aimed to explore the underlying mechanisms of PD subgroups with different degrees of cognitive progression by assessing functional interhemispheric coordination and their relations with cognition. Approach: Fifty-four PD patients were included. Voxel-mirrored Homotopic Connectivity (VMHC) was applied to detect functional interhemispheric coordination. Results: Fisher z transformed VMHC value reduced in the bilateral middle temporal gyrus (MTG), bilateral middle occipital gyrus (MOG) when compared to progressive cognitive impairment (pPD) with the stable cognitive performance (sPD) group. Impact: z-VMHC values within the MTG and MOG and calcarine cortex appeared to be potential neuroimaging features to distinguish pPD patients from sPD groups.