Systemic blood pressure profile correlates with cardiac 123I-MIBG uptake in patients with Parkinson's disease

To examine the correlation between the systemic blood pressure profile and cardiac 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) uptake in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), we monitored circadian blood pressure patterns of 37 PD patients of 49 to 85years of age (mean, 71.8±8.4years) using a portable blood pressure monitoring device. The duration of PD was 0.5 to 15years, and the disability level (modified Hoehn and Yahr stage) ranged from 1.0 to 4.0 (mean, 2.7±0.7). There were 37 age- and sex-matched control subjects. Cardiac MIBG scintigraphy was performed for the 37 PD patients. Based on the nocturnal fall in mean arterial blood pressure (MABP), we classified patients into extreme dippers (nocturnal reduction of MABP >20%), dippers (>10% but