Manipal: Nuclear Medicine Physicians at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal performed a TRODAT scan – an important functional imaging tool to diagnose Parkinson’s Disease for the first time in coastal Karnataka.
Parkinson’s Disease (PD), a common neurological disorder, is primarily associated with a progressive loss of dopaminergic (neurotransmitter) neurons. Accurate and early diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease is vital for effective treatment.
The diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease is based on clinical signs and symptoms but the error rate is high in the general community. The onset of molecular and cellular neuropathology of PD occurs years before the onset of the motor symptoms characteristic of PD as 60-80 percent loss of dopaminergic neurons are required before symptoms emerge.
Conventionally, it is a major clinical diagnostic problem, especially in its early stages because the symptoms and signs resemble several other diseases. Also, currently there are no accepted laboratory biomarkers for the disease and CT & MRI findings are unremarkable.
The TRODAT scan assists a neuro-physician in identifying the disease at a very early stage, helps differentiate between Parkinson’s from essential tremors, drug induced Parkinsonism, dystonia and psychogenic causes. If a scan is normal then the patient could avoid unnecessary long-term therapy with its several side effects.
Dr. (Col.) M Dayananda, Medical Superintendent and COO, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal announcing the first-of-its-kind scan in the coastal belt of Karnataka, said that specific training is required to identify Parkinson’s in the early stages through scans. “Our nuclear medicine specialists trained at AIIMS, New Delhi were able to perform the scan and identify early stage Parkinson’s. The simple scan with no side effects was performed on January 11, 2017 and now Kasturba Hospital offers a very low cost package for this scan compared to the centres in Bangalore or other metros,” he said.
