Dopamine transporter (DAT) imaging such as <sup>123</sup>I-ioflupane (<sup>123</sup>I-FP-CIT) SPECT is a useful tool for the diagnosis of parkinsonism and dementia.
Studies using the clinical diagnosis of a movement disorders specialist over the course of the disease as a reference have shown that DAT- SPECT is 78-100% sensitive (median, 93%) and 70-100% specific (median, 89%) for the differentiation of neurodegenerative parkinsonian syndromes from symptomatic parkinsonism and other differential diagnoses in clinically unclear cases.
PET with FE-PE2I revealed significant differences between patients with a clinical de novo diagnosis of PS and healthy controls in striatal DAT availability (p < 0.001), with excellent accuracy of predicting dopaminergic deficit in early-stage PS.
An abnormal iodine-123 ioflupane SPECT scan suggests a decreased amount of dopamine transporter in the striatum, that is, a diagnosis of nigrostriatal neurodegenerative PS, whereas a normal scan suggests ET or other nondegenerative parkinsonism (drug-induced, vascular, or psychogenic).
Recent developments in diagnosis, such as the use of dopamine transporter imaging for drug-induced parkinsonism, and treatment, with the approval of valbenazine and deutetrabenazine, the first drugs indicated for tardive syndromes, have improved outcomes for many patients with drug-induced movement disorders.
Scans without evidence of dopaminergic deficit (SWEDD) is a radiological nomenclature which refers to patients with a normal dopamine transporter scan presumed to have parkinsonism.
We cover dopa-responsive dystonia, Wilson's disease, Parkin-, PINK1-, and DJ-1-associated parkinsonism (PARK2, 6, and 7), x-linked dystonia-parkinsonism/Lubag (DYT3), rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism (DYT12) and DYT16 dystonia, the syndromes of Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation (NBIA) including pantothenate kinase (PANK2)- and PLA2G6 (PARK14)-associated neurodegeneration, neuroferritinopathy, Kufor-Rakeb disease (PARK9) and the recently described SENDA syndrome; FBXO7-associated neurodegeneration (PARK15), autosomal-recessive spastic paraplegia with a thin corpus callosum (SPG11), and dystonia parkinsonism due to mutations in the SLC6A3 gene encoding the dopamine transporter.
Dopamine transporter (DAT) single-photon emission tomography (SPECT) with (123)Ioflupane is a widely used diagnostic tool for patients with suspected parkinsonian syndromes, as it assists with differentiating between Parkinson's disease (PD) or atypical parkinsonisms and conditions without a presynaptic dopaminergic deficit such as essential tremor, vascular and drug-induced parkinsonisms.
Identification of the molecular basis of IPD suggests SLC6A3 as a candidate susceptibility gene for other movement disorders associated with parkinsonism and/or dystonic features.
Dopaminergic neurons from patients with Type 2 and Type 1 Gaucher disease with parkinsonism had reduced dopamine storage and dopamine transporter reuptake.
Present data suggest that A. blazei extract plays a crucial role in regulation of proteins expression such as DAT and VMAT2 and pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic in Parkinsonism.
Dopamine transporter deficiency syndrome due to SLC6A3 mutations is the first inherited dopamine 'transportopathy' to be described, with a classical presentation of early infantile-onset progressive parkinsonism dystonia.
Fifty-six patients (52.8%) were diagnosed as having concomitant parkinsonism with rigidity and resting tremor and dopamine transporter reduction in the basal ganglia.
An image-based automated classification using striatal DAT activity and regional perfusion patterns provided a good performance in the differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative parkinsonian syndromes without clinical information.