title: The role of functional dopamine-transporter SPECT imaging in parkinsonian syndromes, part 2.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Neuroradiology (T.C.B.), National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK tombooth@doctors.org.uk.
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Booth
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine (M.N., A.-M.Q.), Royal Free Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nathan
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging (A.D.W.), Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Waldman
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine (M.N., A.-M.Q.), Royal Free Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK.
authors.forename: A-M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Quigley
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurosciences (A.H.S.), Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Schapira
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine (J.B.), Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Buscombe
mesh_terms: D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000473:pathology; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D020329:Essential Tremor / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D020961:Lewy Body Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D019578:Multiple System Atrophy / Q000175:diagnosis; D020734:Parkinsonian Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013494:Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive / Q000175:diagnosis; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins