While Parkinson’s disease is diagnosed according to motor symptoms, it is also associated with various non-motor symptoms, that greatly impair quality of life, such as cognitive deficits and decline, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and pain. Many patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) will develop cognitive deficits early in the disease, and a majority will develop dementia after 15 years of diagnosis. In this talk, we will review different characteristics linked to neuropsychological and neuropsychiatric function that can affect cognition and its evolution in PD. We will first show how task-based functional MRI can inform us regarding the circuits affected in PD patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), together with studies using anatomical, diffusion and functional connectivity MRI based methods that attempt to characterize better the brain correlates of the different cognitive profiles as well as their evolution. Machine learning models will also be described that aim to identify the most predictive features associated with cognitive decline. We will then expose Mild Behavioural Impairment, a validated neurobehavioral syndrome, developed as a diagnostic construct to identify patients at increased risk of cognitive decline. Data will be presented regarding the cognitive and brain correlates of Mild Behavioural Impairment in PD, and we will argue that it might be a useful tool for predicting cognitive decline in the disease. Finally, we will discuss on-going and future studies that aim to characterize the origins of the higher prevalence of chronic pain in PD.

Oury Monchi obtained his Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience at King’s College London, UK. He then pursued postdoctoral fellowships at the Montreal Neurological Institute, and at the Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM) in neuroimaging applied to Parkinson’s disease. Until the summer of 2014 he was Associate Professor of Radiology at the Université de Montréal and a scientist at the CRIUGM. From 2014 to 2021 Prof. Monchi was Professor and director for clinical research at the department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary. During that time, he held the Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease and the Tourmaline Oil Chair in Parkinson's disease. Since 2018, he is the director of the Canadian-Open Parkinson Network, a platform funded by Brain-Canada and Parkinson Canada. Since November 2021, Prof. Monchi is the Scientific Director of the Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal and Full Professor of Radiology, Radio-oncology and Nuclear Medecine at the Université de Montréal.

Prof. Monchi's lab has been a pioneer in using different neuroimaging techniques to study the origins and evolution of non-motor (including cognitive and neuropsychiatric) deficits in Parkinson's disease with the ultimate goal of the early prediction of dementia in the disease. Non-medication therapies such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and low intensity focused ultrasound are also being explored. Methods used include functional and anatomical MRI, TMS, LiFU, neuropsychological and neuropsychiatric evaluations, genotyping and machine learning. In collaboration with Prof. Pierre Rainville, Dr. Monchi has recently started to study the origins of chronic pain in Parkinson’s disease.

FRANCAIS

Oury Monchi a obtenu son doctorat en neurosciences computationnelles au King's College de Londres, au Royaume-Uni. Il a ensuite poursuivi des stages postdoctoraux à l'Institut Neurologique de Montréal et au Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM) en neuroimagerie appliquée à la maladie de Parkinson. Jusqu'à l'été 2014, il était professeur agrégé de radiologie à l'Université de Montréal et chercheur régulier au CRIUGM. De 2014 à 2021, M. Monchi a été professeur et directeur de la recherche clinique au département de neurosciences cliniques de l'Université de Calgary. Pendant ce temps, il a détenu la Chaire de recherche du Canada (Niveau 1) sur les symptômes non moteurs de la maladie de Parkinson et la Chaire Tourmaline en Maladie de Parkinson. Depuis 2018, il est directeur du Canadian-Open Parkinson Network, une plateforme financée par Brain-Canada et Parkinson Canada. Depuis novembre 2021, Prof. Monchi est le directeur scientifique du Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal et professeur titulaire au département de radiologie, radio-oncologie et médecine nucléaire de l'Université de Montréal.

Le laboratoire du M. Monchi a été un pionnier dans l'utilisation de différentes techniques de neuroimagerie pour étudier les origines et l'évolution des déficits non moteurs (y compris cognitifs et neuropsychiatriques) de la maladie de Parkinson dans le but ultime de la prédiction précoce de la démence. Des thérapies non médicamenteuses telles que la stimulation magnétique transcrânienne et les ultrasons focalisés de faible intensité sont également à l'étude. Les méthodes utilisées comprennent l'IRM fonctionnelle et anatomique, la TMS, le LiFU, les évaluations neuropsychologiques et neuropsychiatriques, le génotypage et l'apprentissage machine. M. Monchi est aussi en train de développer de nouvelles collaborations pour étudier la douleur dans la maladie de Parkinson.