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Research advances in multimodal MRI of the cerebellum in Parkinson's disease
GUO Rong  LIU Quanyuan  LIU Miaomiao  LI Minglong  LIU Wenxin  YANG Ping  QIAO Linjun  LI Xianglin 

DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.05.025.


[Abstract] Monitoring structural and functional abnormalities of the cerebellum in Parkinson's disease (PD) is of great significance for understanding disease mechanisms, guiding individualized treatment, and evaluating therapeutic efficacy. Multimodal MRI technology enables non-invasive and multi-dimensional assessment of cerebellar alterations in structure, function, and metabolism, providing crucial insights into the cerebellar pathological processes in PD. Based on recent advances in techniques such as structural MRI (sMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), blood oxygenation level-dependent functional MRI (BOLD-fMRI), quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), this article systematically reviews the relationship between cerebellar structural and functional changes and clinical symptoms in PD. It focuses on characteristic manifestations including deep cerebellar nuclear atrophy, white matter microstructural damage, functional connectivity abnormalities, and metabolic disturbances, elaborates on the potential mechanisms of the cerebellum in both motor and non-motor symptoms of PD. This review identifies current limitations, such as insufficient analysis of functional heterogeneity within cerebellar subregions, low consistency across different imaging modalities, and a lack of longitudinal studies, and points out future research directions, including the integration of ultra-high field MRI and artificial intelligence techniques. The ultimate goal is to provide imaging evidence for early diagnosis, disease monitoring, and treatment evaluation of PD.
[Keywords] Parkinson's disease；cerebellum；magnetic resonance imaging；multimodal brain imaging；white matter microstructure；brain function

GUO Rong1   LIU Quanyuan2   LIU Miaomiao3   LI Minglong1   LIU Wenxin1   YANG Ping1   QIAO Linjun1   LI Xianglin1*  

1 School of Medical Imaging, Shandong Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Yantai 264003, China

2 Department of Radiology, Binzhou Medical University Hospital, Binzhou 256603, China

3 Department of Medical Imaging, Shandong University Affiliated Children's Hospital (Jinan Children's Hospital), Jinan 250022, China

Corresponding author: LI X L, E-mail: xlli@bzmc.edu.cn

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2026-01-16
Accepted  2026-04-19
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.05.025
DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.05.025.

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