title: Early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.
abstract: The clinical methods of olfactory testing and color discrimination as well as apparative methods such as transcranial ultrasound, dopamine transporter imaging and MIBG scintigraphy reveal a high sensitivity concerning the diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). The specificity of the presented methods, in particular of the dopamine transporter imaging--seems to be limited. All these methods and primarily their combination allow the detection of PD in early and--probably--preclinical stages. This requires sufficient therapeutic strategies to prevent and treat preclinical and early PD.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Neurology, Saarland University, Kirrberger Strasse, 66421, Homburg/Saar, Germany. nejspi@uniklinik-saarland.de
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Spiegel
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Storch
authors.forename: Wolfgang H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Jost
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D000857:Olfaction Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial