Abstract
SUMMARY: The functional imaging technique most widely used in European clinics to differentiate a true parkinsonian syndrome from vascular parkinsonism, drug-induced changes, or essential tremor is dopamine-transporter SPECT. This technique commonly reports dopamine-transporter function, with decreasing striatal uptake demonstrating increasingly severe disease. The strength of dopamine-transporter SPECT is that nigrostriatal degeneration is observed in both clinically inconclusive parkinsonism and early, even premotor, disease. In this clinical review (Part 2), we present the dopamine-transporter SPECT findings in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, including multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, and dementia with Lewy bodies. The findings in vascular parkinsonism, drug-induced parkinsonism, and essential tremor are also described. It is hoped that this technique will be the forerunner of a range of routinely used, process-specific ligands that can identify early degenerative disease and subsequently guide disease-modifying interventions.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 236-44 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | American Journal of Neuroradiology |
Volume | 36 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- Corpus Striatum
- Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
- Essential Tremor
- Humans
- Lewy Body Disease
- Multiple System Atrophy
- Parkinsonian Disorders
- Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive
- Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
- Journal Article
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Review