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Objective To evaluate the clinical manifestations, metal metabolism, imaging characteristics and treatment response in patients with delayed Wilson disease (WD). Methods Patients with untreated WD (40 with delayed onset and 40 with non?delayed onset) were enrolled. Twenty healthy people were included as normal controls. All patients were evaluated with modified Young scale neural symptom scores, grade of Child liver function and mental symptoms rating scale, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, magnetic sensitive imaging (susceptibility weighted imaging, SWI), metal metabolism. Corrected phase (CP) was measured at SWI. After 2 week treatment, neurologic symptoms, liver function, and metal metabolism were reviewed. Results The total score of neurological symptoms in WD patients with delayed onset was lower than that of non?delayed onset (13.00 ± 6.87 vs. 21.13 ± 5.53, P=0.033). The scores of SCL?90 and HAMA depression scales in patients with delayed onset were lower than those of non?delayed onset. On T2 weighted imaging, areas including substantia nigra and thalamus, the caudate nucleus, globus pallidus, putamen presented high signal rate in patients with delated onset than those with non?delayed (P=0.022, 0.037, 0.022, 0.037, 0.029 respectively). The SWI CP values of cangbai sphere and shell nucleus in patients with delayed onset were lower than those with non?delayed onset. Patients with delayed onset had higher urinary copper than those with non?delayed onset before and after treatment (P=0.040, 0.036). After treatment, the score of abnormal tremor and gait in patients with delayed onset was decreased (P=0.037, 0.044), while as the occurrence of neurological symptoms was increased by 10%, and the liver function level in patients with delayed WD was decreased in 3 cases. Conclusions The brain of WD patients with delayed onset is mainly composed of metal deposits, however the cell damage is not apparent. Clinical symptoms are characterized by significant liver injury, but relatively mild neurological and psychiatric symptoms. Patients with delayed WD have higher urinary copper excretion than those with non?delayed WD. Chelating agents improves the neurological symptoms in patients with delayed onset.
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Objective To investigate the value of neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) in quantitative evaluation of the microstructural changes in basal ganglia and thalamus in Wilson's disease (WD) patients,and to assess the diagnostic efficacy of NODDI.Methods Totally 27 WD patients (WD group) and 26 age-and sex-matched controls (control group) were enrolled.All subjects underwent MR scanning with NODDI.Parameters of NODDI,including intracellular volume fraction (Vic),orientation dispersion index (ODI) and isotropic volume fraction (Viso) of bilateral caudate nucleus,globus pallidus,putamen and thalamus were compared between the 2 groups.Correlation analysis was performed between each parameter of NODDI and clinical Young scores.Random Forest model was used to assess the relative importance of each parameter and to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy.Results The Vic and ODI of bilateral caudate nucleus,globus pallidus and putamen in WD patients were significantly lower than those in normal controls (all P＜0.05),while Viso was significantly higher than that in normal controls (all P＜0.05).The Vic of bilateral thalamus was lower,while Viso was higher in WD patients than those in normal controls (all P＜0.05),and ODI had no significant difference between the 2 groups (P=0.055).In WD patients,Vic and ODI of bilateral caudate nucleus,globus pallidus and putamen were negatively correlated with clinical Young scores.Viso of globus pallidus and putamen were positively correlated with clinical scores.The prediction accuracy of NODDI was 96.23％,and the area under ROC curve was 0.96.Conclusion NODDI can effectively evaluate changes in microstructures and metabolism during copper deposition in WD patients,and it may be useful in detecting changes of brain deep nuclei and assessing the progression of WD.
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Objective To evaluate functional activity of the subcortical nuclei in Wilson's disease (WD) using resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI),and to evaluate damage to the functional conjunction in the extracorticospinal tract in WD patients.Methods Twenty-two patients with WD (between January 2015 and January 2016),including 18 with cerebral type and 4 with hepatic type,and 20 age-matched healthy controls were enrolled.Neurological symptoms were scored using the modified Young Scale.Patients with cerebral type WD were divided into 4 subgroups.All study subjects underwent rs-fMRI of the brain.The values of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (REHO) in the thalamus,caudate nucleus,putamen and globus pallidus were determined.The relationships between rsfMRI metrics and clinical status were evaluated.Results ALFF values were lower in the caudate nucleus,putamen and right thalamus of WD patients than in controls (t =-3.07,-3.00,-3.12,-2.46,-2.20;P =0.005,0.006,0.004,0.020,0.036),while REHO values were lower in the left caudate nucleus and left thalamus of WD patients (t =-2.38,-2.16;P =0.025,0.040).In the caudate nucleus (P =0.032,0.029,0.023),thalamus (P =0.022,0.041,0.035) ALFF values were lower in group 4 than in other groups.REHO values of the putamen (P =0.040,0.017,0.040) and thalamus (P =0.024,0.029 7,0.041) were higher in group 4 than in other groups.ALFF values in the caudate nucleus (t =-0.29,P=0.037),and thalamus (t =-1.77,P =0.042) were lower,and REHO values in the caudate nncleus (t =-1.46,P =0.040) were lower,in patients of cerebral type than in hepatic type patients.Conclusions The damage to the functional activity of the subcortical nuclei may occur in the WD patients.The functional activity of nuclei may be different between hepatic and cerebral type patients.Damage to the activity of neurons in the putamen and thalamus may correlate with psychiatric symptoms in WD patients.
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Objective To explore the mechanism of the secondary deterioration of neurological symptoms in Wilson' s disease (WD) at early stage of treatment using D-penicillamine. Methods Forty non-treated WD patients, 32 of encephalic and 8 hepatic type respectively, were enrolled in the study. Their neural symptoms were scored using modified Young grade. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) copper, serum copper, urinary copper, neuron specific enolase (NSE) in CSF and the albumin ratio CSF/serum (AR) were measured at the same time. After 3 months of treatment with D-penicillamine, neural symptoms of patients were scored again. All dates were analyzed. Results After 3 months of treatment with D-penicillamine, 15 patients (46. 9%) developed a secondary deterioration in neurological symptoms. The concentration of copper and the NSE in CSF of patients whose neural symptom was increasingly deteriorated. The serum copper declined after treatment((0. 37± 0. 09) vs (0. 25 ± 0. 08) mg/L, t = 3. 17, P < 0. 05). The 24 hours urinary copper of patients whose symptoms had deteriorated was much lower than that of patients who had not. No significant change was found in AR ratio before and after the treatment (9. 53 ± 3.18vs12.24±3.17) in the worsened group (t=1.45, P>0. 05). Conclusions The degree of the injury in the neural system and the dose of penicillamine may affect the deterioration of the neural symptom.