NIH highlights PET study in Parkinson ’s disease

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has highlighted a study that shows cardiac PET scans can help identify people at risk for Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia. In a study of 34 people at risk for these diseases, NIH scientists used PET scans to show that individuals with low uptake of F-18 dopamine PET radiotracer in the heart were highly likely to develop Parkinson’s or Lewy body dementia (LBD) during long-term follow-up, compared to individuals with the same risk factors but with normal radioactivity.Significantly, the research supports a “body first” progression model for the diseases, the researchers suggested.“We think that in many cases of Parkinson’s and dementia with Lewy bodies the disease processes don’t actually begin in the brain,” noted principal investigator David Goldstein, MD, PhD, of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), in a news release.Essentially, the idea is that the loss of norepinephrine in the heart predicts and precedes the loss of dopamine in the brain in Lewy body diseases, Goldstein said.Both Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia are brain diseases caused by abnormal deposits of the protein alpha-synuclein, which form clumps known as Lewy bodies. Earlier work by the group found that people with Lewy body disease had severe depletion of cardiac norepinephrine, which is normally released by the nerves that supply the heart.Heart and brain PET scans from a study participant who ...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Subspecialties Molecular Imaging Neuroradiology Source Type: news