Iron deposition accompanied with dopamine dysfunction in the nigrostriatal system in Parkinson's disease: A simultaneous ¹⁸ F-FP-CIT PET/MRI study

A 68-year-old female patient was clinically diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) presenting with symptoms including resting tremor in the hands (attenuated by voluntary movement), accompanied by bradykinesia, hyposmia, and excessive sweating for one year. Her symptoms showed significant improvement following Medopar administration. To further evaluate iron deposition and presynaptic dopaminergic function in the nigrostriatal system, a simultaneous positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) study using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and ¹⁸ F-2-carbomethoxy-8-(3-fluoropropyl)-3-(4-iodophenyl)tropane ( ¹⁸ F-FP-CIT) PET, which targets dopamine transporters (DAT), was performed. This integrated PET/MRI approach demonstrated an association between increased iron deposition and dopaminergic dysfunction within the nigrostriatal system in PD. This study underscores the value of simultaneous multimodal imaging in elucidating the concurrent pathological processes of iron dyshomeostasis and dopaminergic degeneration in PD, potentially offering insights for diagnosis and mechanistic understanding.