When otherwise normally functioning adults with pronounced sleep problems and a weakened sense of smell also have two imaging biomarkers—reduced dopamine activity on SPECT and Parkinson’s-type pattern expression on FDG-PET—they’re probably headed for full-on Parkinson’s disease.
So suggest the authors of a small European study published online in Movement Disorders.
Sanne Meles, MD, of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and colleagues had 21 patients with idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder tested for olfactory health and imaged with 18FDG PET and DAT-SPECT (dopamine transporter-single photon emission computed tomography).
For reference, they included 18FDG PET data of 19 controls, 20 patients with Parkinson’s disease and 22 patients with Lewy body dementia.
The researchers found Parkinson’s-related pattern expression higher in idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder subjects compared with controls but lower compared with the patients who had Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia.
Further, Parkinson’s-related pattern expression was higher in idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder subjects with hyposmia (weak smell sense) and in subjects with an abnormal dopamine transporter scan.
“Parkinson’s disease-related pattern expression, dopamine transporter binding and olfaction may provide complementary information for predicting phenoconversion” (a biological indicator of the advance of Parkinson’s), the authors write.
Journal publisher Wiley has posted the study in full for free.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.