Echogenicity of the Substantia nigra in the brain parenchyma sonography in children and adolescents compared with adults

Introduction: The substantia nigra (SN)-echogenicity detected by transcranial sonography (TCS) is a marker for the structural and functional integrity of the nigro-striatal system. In recent years, TCS has been established as a non-invasive method primarily used to detect basal ganglia abnormalities with its most frequent use in SN ultrasound imaging (Walter et al. 2007). Markedly increased echogenicity of the SN has been found in about 90% of patients with Parkinson's disease (Becker et al. 1995; Berg et al. 2001). However, in about 90% of the healthy elderly population the size of the echogenic SN-area is smal…