It may soon be possible to diagnose Parkinson's disease while the sufferer is still alive, if marketing authorisation is given to a new agent called Datscan.
At present, it is only possible to make a definite diagnosis of Parkinson's disease at post-mortem, as other disorders, such as essential tremor, may mimic symptoms of the disease. Datscan is an 123Iodine-labelled agent, which binds to dopamine receptors in the brain. This allows any reduction in the number of receptors, as occurs in Parkinson's disease, to be identified.
The UK manufacturer, Nycomed Amersham, has filed an application for marketing authorisation with the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA) and hopes to receive a licence by the end of June.
Dr David Burns (consultant neurologist, Newcastle General hospital) told The Journal on March 29 that this type of imaging allows the function of the brain to be studied but does not give great detail regarding the structure. "The main help will probably be distinguishing between essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson's disease (which can be difficult clinically), he added.
"The Datscan is unable to distinguish between PD and atypical parkinsonism with any degree of reliability."