Functional Imaging Analysis of the Common Basis of Multi-modal Hallucinations in Parkinson's Disease

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K21305
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 1002:Human informatics, applied informatics and related fields
• Research Institution: Kawasaki Medical School (2023); Osaka University (2022)
• Principal Investigator: Kajiyama Yuta 川崎医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (80792390)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-08-31 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: パーキンソン病 / 幻視 / 脳機能ネットワーク / MRI

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Parkinson's disease (PD) is often associated with visual hallucinations (VI/VH) and presence hallucinations (PH). However, the common neural basis for these phenomena has not been elucidated. In this study, I performed functional MRI analysis on 66 PD patients with hallucinations. All patients had VI/VH and 20 patients had PH. PD patients with PH were more likely to experience abnormal sensations or pain (15 of 20 vs. 13 of 46) and had a significantly reduced fronto-temporal network. These findings provide a new perspective on the formation of hallucinatory sensations in PD and may contribute to the induction or alleviation of hallucinations.

Free Research Field

パーキンソン病

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまでPDの錯視・幻視について後頭葉の血流低下や視覚認知機能との関連が指摘されてきたが、本研究の結果は、幻視を含めた多モダリディの幻覚形成に前頭葉からの注意制御が関与する可能性を示唆する。また非視覚的な存在幻覚と体性感覚異常とが関連する可能性がある。本研究の成果は、PDにおける錯覚・幻覚形成に新たな視点を提供し、幻覚を誘発あるいは緩和させる手法の開発に寄与すると考えられる。