Department of Neurology, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwels Street 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy III, University of Ulm, Leimgrubenweg 12, 89075 Ulm, Germany.
Auton Neurosci. 2021 Sep;234:102835. doi: 10.1016/j.autneu.2021.102835. Epub 2021 Jun 20.
Vagus nerve (VN) has been suggested as one of the major routes of Parkinson's disease (PD) progression from enteric nervous system to brain. Therefore, the recent studies have investigated the VN structurally, with a focus on the changes in its size in PD patients using high-frequency ultrasonography. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to evaluate VN size via ultrasound in PD compared to controls.
Totally, five studies were included with a total of 238 participants (128 PD patients and 111 controls).
The estimate mean difference in four studies showed that the VN CSA was smaller in PD patients with 0.29 mm (95% CI, -0.52 to -0.06) and 0.23 mm (95% CI, -0.42 to -0.05) for right and left VNs respectively. The test for overall effect was significant for both measurements (p = 0.01).
This review reveals that there is a degree of vagus nerve atrophy in PD which could be detected sonographically with high confidence, thus can be used as a marker for vagus neuronal lesion or neuropathy. Further studies are needed to examine its clinical correlation thoroughly.
迷走神经（VN）被认为是帕金森病（PD）从肠神经系统向大脑进展的主要途径之一。因此，最近的研究使用高频超声对迷走神经的结构进行了研究，重点是 PD 患者迷走神经大小的变化。本系统评价和荟萃分析旨在评估与对照组相比，超声检查 PD 患者的 VN 大小。
共纳入 5 项研究，共 238 名参与者（128 名 PD 患者和 111 名对照组）。
四项研究的估计平均差异表明，PD 患者的 VN CSA 较小，右侧 VN 为 0.29mm（95%CI，-0.52 至-0.06），左侧 VN 为 0.23mm（95%CI，-0.42 至-0.05）。两种测量方法的总效应检验均有统计学意义（p=0.01）。
本综述表明，PD 患者存在一定程度的迷走神经萎缩，超声检查可以高度可靠地检测到这种萎缩，因此可以作为迷走神经神经元损伤或神经病变的标志物。需要进一步研究来全面检查其临床相关性。
