title: Beta-CIT-SPECT combined with UPDRS appears to distinguish different parkinsonian conditions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  An earlier study in l-dopa responding patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease documented that progressive nigro-striatal degeneration shown with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and the cocain analog iodine-123-beta-CIT (beta-CIT) correlated linearly with increasing motor scores in the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). Here we have extended the study to include 2 tremor patients with mild parkinsonism, 2 poor l-dopa responders with parkisonism and 2 non l-dopa responders with severe parkinsonism.
  
  
  METHODS
  SPECT scanning was performed 20 h after injection of beta-CIT and UPDRS was done at the time of beta-CIT injection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All patients in the present study showed less nigro-striatal degeneration in relation to UPDRS motor scores than the patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that the the combination of beta-CIT-SPECT and UPDRS motor scores has the potential to differentiate idiopathic Parkinson's disease from other parkinsonian conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sjøholm
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sundsfjord
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Mellgren
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000187:drug effects; D003042:Cocaine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills; D020734:Parkinsonian Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D007980:Levodopa; C069723:2beta-carbomethoxy-3beta-(4-iodophenyl)tropane; D003042:Cocaine