Disentangling the neural correlates of corticobasal syndrome and corticobasal degeneration with systematic and quantitative ALE meta-analyses

Abstract

Differential diagnosis: imaging to tell the difference Brain imaging could be used to distinguish between patients with corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). CBD is a rare condition caused by the gradual loss of brain cells in areas of the brain that link thinking to movement. The clinical features of CBD, referred to as corticobasal syndrome (CBS), are similar to those of patients with PD, but they progress differently. To aid earlier and more accurate diagnosis, Franziska Albrecht, at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Germany, and colleagues reviewed 11 magnetic resonance imaging studies to find brain areas that are specifically affected in CBS/CBD patients. They show that cell loss in specific regions of the motor areas and frontomedian cortex is a hallmark of CBS/CBD, whereas cell loss in the thalamus and parts of the frontal/precentral gyrus were associated with other neurodegenerative diseases.