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Published on: January 7, 2019
99mTc-TRODAT-1 SPECT study in early Parkinson's disease and essential tremor
1Institute of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. wangjian336@hotmail.com
Objective:
The clinical differentiation between early Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET) could be difficult, therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate 99mTc-TRODAT-1 SPECT as an applicable tool in this field.
Methods:
99mTc-TRODAT-1 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was performed in 10 healthy volunteers, 27 patients with idiopathic PD (Hoehn and Yahr 1-1.5) and 12 patients with ET. The ratio of striatal (99m)Tc-TRODAT-1 binding was calculated as the index of (striatum - occipital cortex)/occipital cortex.
Results:
Compared with the striatal 99mTc-TRODAT-1 uptake in the ET group (0.49 +/- 0.07) or healthy controls (0.54 +/- 0.18), there was a significant decrease in the bilateral striatums of early PD, with a greater reduction in the contralateral striatum (0.27 +/- 0.08) than ipsilateral one (0.36 +/- 0.10, P < 0.01). Its sensitivity and specificity of differentiating early PD from ET was 96.4% and 91.7% respectively.
Conclusion:
99mTc-TRODAT-1 SPECT can detect the dysfunction of nigrostriatal system in patients with early PD and provided a feasible tool to help differentiate early PD from ET.
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