Diffusion imaging in parkinson's disease and parkinsonism

A method of determining a treatment efficacy score for a treatment for treating a parkinsonian disease in an individual, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a computing entity, a first set of imaging information/data associated with a dMRI scan of an individual's brain and associated with a first time;
• receiving, at the computing entity, a second set of imaging information/data associated with a dMRI scan of the individual's brain and associated with a second time, wherein the individual undergoes a treatment for a time period, the time period comprising at least a portion of the time between the first time and the second time;
• determining, at the computing entity, an expected change between the first time and the second time based on a natural progression of the parkinsonian disease;
• analyzing, at the computing entity, at least a portion of the first set of imaging information/data to determine a first free-water pattern;
• analyzing, at the computing entity, at least a portion of the second set of imaging information/data to determine a second free-water pattern;
• based on the first free-water pattern and the second free-water pattern, determining, at the computing entity, a disease progression score;
• and
• based on the disease progression score and the expected change between the first time and the second time, determining, at the computing entity, a treatment efficacy for treating the individual with the treatment.

An apparatus comprising at least one processor, a communications interface configured for communicating via at least one network, and at least one memory storing computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

• receive a first set of imaging information/data associated with a dMRI scan of an individual's brain and associated with a first time;
• receive a second set of imaging information/data associated with a dMRI scan of the individual's brain and associated with a second time, wherein the individual undergoes a treatment for a time period, the time period comprising at least a portion of the time between the first time and the second time;
• determine an expected change between the first time and the second time based on a natural progression of the parkinsonian disease;
• analyze at least a portion of the first set of imaging information/data to determine a first free-water pattern;
• analyze at least a portion of the second set of imaging information/data to determine a second free-water pattern;
• based on the first free-water pattern and the second free-water pattern, determine a disease progression score;
• and
• based on the disease progression score and the expected change between the first time and the second time, determine a treatment efficacy for treating the individual with the treatment.

A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising executable portions configured, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, to cause the apparatus to:

• receive a first set of imaging information/data associated with a dMRI scan of an individual's brain and associated with a first time;
• receive a second set of imaging information/data associated with a dMRI scan of the individual's brain and associated with a second time, wherein the individual undergoes a treatment for a time period, the time period comprising at least a portion of the time between the first time and the second time;
• determine an expected change between the first time and the second time based on a natural progression of the parkinsonian disease;
• analyze at least a portion of the first set of imaging information/data to determine a first free-water pattern;
• analyze at least a portion of the second set of imaging information/data to determine a second free-water pattern;
• based on the first free-water pattern and the second free-water pattern, determine a disease progression score;
• and
• based on the disease progression score and the expected change between the first time and the second time, determine a treatment efficacy for treating the individual with the treatment.