New brain scan could act as diagnostic tool in Parkinson’s

A type of brain scan could act as a diagnostic tool in Parkinson’s according to a new study published in the scientific journal Radiology.

Nottingham University Hospital researchers, funded by the charity Parkinson’s UK, used an MRI brain scan to study changes in a pigment in the part of the brain affected by Parkinson’s.

In 69 participants, they found that a brain scan, which can detect this pigment, allowed them to accurately identify those with mild or moderate Parkinson’s, highlighting the potential of this technique to diagnose and track the condition.  

Brain cells affected by Parkinson’s contain a pigment called neuromelanin, which gives the cells a characteristic dark colouring. As those cells are lost in people with Parkinson’s, the pigmentation is reduced. Recent research has suggested MRI brain scans may be sensitive enough to detect this change.

However, there are many different machines and methods for taking MRI brain scans, which could affect how accurate the technique is at detecting Parkinson’s. The Nottingham team developed ways to standardise results from different types of machines to increase the accuracy of the technique. They also discovered that the technique may be sensitive enough to monitor the progression of Parkinson’s.

Dr Beckie Port, Senior Research Communications Officer at Parkinson’s UK, said:

This research is hugely promising. There is no definitive diagnostic tool for Parkinson’s at the moment; instead, the condition is diagnosed by specialists after investigating symptoms and monitoring how they progress over time.

Sometimes a specialist will suggest a type of brain scan, such as a DatSCAN, but these scans alone cannot make a definite diagnosis of Parkinson’s, so they are not commonly used.

In time this research could reduce the delays and distress that many people experience whilst they wait for a confirmation of whether or not they have Parkinson’s. Further, larger scale studies of the brain scan, that also follow the condition as it progresses, will help to determine how accurate this technique as a definitive diagnostic test for.

Dr Stefan Schwarz, an expert in neuroradiology at the University of Nottingham, said:

One of the major challenges to using this technique as a diagnostic test is that the scanning machines vary from hospital to hospital. This means the results they produce will be slightly different. We developed a special algorithm that compensates for different types of MRI machines and MRI sequences which means the brain scan technique will be accurate regardless of what machine is being used. This is critical for advancing this technique for clinical use.

Our results demonstrate that we can use an MRI scan to measure changes in the brain that are linked to the severity of the symptoms of patients with Parkinson’s. If future studies confirm that this technique can be used to track the progression of disease related changes over time, this biomarker may help the development of treatments that slow the progression of Parkinson’s.