title: Detection of preclinical Parkinson's disease with PET.
abstract: Putamen 18F-dopa uptake of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) is reduced by at least 35% at onset of symptoms; therefore, positron-emission tomography (PET) can be used to detect preclinical disease in clinically unaffected twins and relatives of patients with PD. Three out of 6 monozygotic and 2 out of 3 dizygotic unaffected PD co-twins have shown reduced putamen 18F-dopa uptake to date. In addition, an intact sibling and a daughter of 1 of 4 siblings with PD both had low putamen 18F-dopa uptake. These preliminary findings suggest there may be a familial component to the etiology of PD. PET can also be used to detect underlying nigral pathology in patients with isolated tremor and patients who become rigid taking dopamine-receptor blocking agents (DRBAs). Patients with familial essential tremor have normal, and those with isolated rest tremor have consistently low, putamen 18F-dopa uptake. Drug-induced parkinsonism is infrequently associated with underlying nigral pathology.
authors.affiliation: MRC Cyclotron Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Brooks
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000378:metabolism; D004295:Dihydroxyphenylalanine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D004200:Diseases in Twins; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D010302:Parkinson Disease, Secondary / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D011699:Putamen / Q000378:metabolism; D012016:Reference Values; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D014202:Tremor / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; C043437:fluorodopa F 18; D004295:Dihydroxyphenylalanine; D004298:Dopamine