Brain imaging can reveal the signs of Parkinson's disease years before patients are diagnosed, according to scientists at King’s College.
The study published in medical journal 'The Lancet' could potentially lead to new screening tools for early detection of people who are at greatest risk. Treating the Parkinson’s at the earliest possible stage will be the best approach. However, brain imaging using PET scans are expensive and difficult to carry out. The researchers say more work is required to make the scanning process more affordable and straightforward for use as screening tools.
Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, after Alzheimer's disease. The disease is characterised by movement and cognitive problems but is known to become established in the brain a long time before patients are diagnosed.
People who are affected by Parkinson's have build-ups of the protein a-synuclein in the brain. Genetic mutations can also casue the disease. Professor Marios Politis, lead author of the research, said: “If you carry the gene [SNCA] it means it is almost certain you are going to develop Parkinson’s in the course of your life.”
For the purpose of study, the researchers located cases of SNCA genetic mutation in villages in the northern Peloponnese in Greece and also in nearby places of Italy. 14 people with the SNCA gene mutations were found from Greece and Italy. They found that half of the participants had not begun to show any symptoms of Parkinson's.
The study establishes the role played by the brain chemical serotonin in the very earliest stages of Parkinson's. The researchers found that the serotonin system starts to malfunction in people with Parkinson's well before symptoms affecting movement occur, and before the first changes in the dopamine system.
