Psychiatric symptoms and motor impairment are major contributions to the poor 
quality of life in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Here, we applied a 
novel diffusion-weighted imaging approach, diffusion MRI connectometry, to 
investigate the correlation of quality of life, evaluated by Parkinson's Disease 
Questionnaire (PDQ39) with the white matter structural connectivity in 27 
non-demented PD patients (disease duration of 5.3 ± 2.9 years, H and Y 
stage = 1.5 ± 0.6, UPDRS-III = 13.7 ± 6.5, indicating unilateral and mild motor 
involvement). The connectometry analysis demonstrated bilateral posterior limbs 
of the internal capsule (PLIC) with increased connectivity related to the higher 
quality of life (FDR = 0.027) in a multiple regression model. The present study 
suggests for the first time a neural basis of the quality of life in PD in the 
light of major determinants of poor quality of life in these patients: anxiety, 
depression, apathy and motor impairment. Results in our sample of non-demented 
PD patients with relatively mild motor impairment and no apparent sign of 
depression/anxiety also identify a unique and inexplicable association of the 
PLIC to the quality of life in PD patients.