Positron emission tomography suggests that the rate of progression of idiopathic parkinsonism is slow

Journal Article · Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · Annals of Neurology; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.410290617· OSTI ID:5076569

Bhatt, M H; Snow, B J; Martin, W R; Pate, B D; Ruth, T J; Calne, D B ^[1]

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1. Belzberg Laboratory of Clinical Neuroscience, University of British Columbia, Vancouver (Canada)

The authors performed sequential positron emission tomography scans with 6-(18F)fluoro-L-dopa in 9 patients with idiopathic parkinsonism and 7 age-matched normal control subjects to compare changes in the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway over time. The mean interval between the scans was 3.3 years for the group with idiopathic parkinsonism and 3.9 years for the control subjects. The scans were analyzed by calculating the ratio of striatal to background radioactivity. Both groups showed statistically significant reductions of striatal uptake over the interval. The rate of decrease was almost identical in each group (p = 0.6). They infer that the usual rate of loss of integrity of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway in patients with idiopathic parkinsonism is slow and the rate of change between the two groups was comparable.

• OSTI ID: 5076569
• Journal Information: Annals of Neurology; (United States), Vol. 29:6; ISSN 0364-5134
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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