A combined approach using semi-automatic ROI-based volumetry and VBM in patients with SCA1 (n = 37), SCA3 (n = 19) and SCA6 (n = 7) examined 2 years apart showed that progression of brain atrophy particularly affected the brainstem and cerebellum in SCA1, the putamen and pallidum in SCA3, and the cerebellum as well as the thalamus, putamen, caudate and pallidum in SCA6 [18]. This evidence concerns the gene CACNA1A and spinocerebellar ataxia type 6.