Abstract #2193

Resting State Functional Connectivity of the Subthalamic Nucleus in Parkinsons Disease Assessed Using Arterial Spin Labeling

Maria A. Fernandez-Seara¹, Elisa Mengual², Marta Vidorreta¹, Francis Loayza¹, Jaione Irigoyen¹, Maria Pastor¹

¹Neuroscience, CIMA - University of Navarra, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain; ²Anatomy, Medical School - University of Navarra, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

Arterial spin labeled (ASL) perfusion MRI offers the possibility of measuring cerebral blood flow (CBF) and assessing resting state functional connectivity (FC) by means of evaluating the spatial patterns of synchronous spontaneous fluctuations in the CBF time series. Recent work has shown that ASL FC has statistical power comparable to that of BOLD FC and could provide a better characterization of low frequency fluctuations than BOLD. In this work, ASL FC has been used to study FC connectivity of the STN in healthy controls and to evaluate STN FC alterations in Parkinsons disease.