New developments of dopaminergic imaging in Parkinson's disease

• Published in: The quarterly journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 68 - 82
• Main Authors: Varrone, A, Halldin, C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Italy Edizioni Minerva Medica 01-02-2012
• Subjects: Biomarkers; Dopamine; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Parkinson's disease; Proteins; Tomography
• ISSN: 1824-4785; 1827-1936; 1827-1936

The development of radioligands for the dopaminergic system has provided suitable imaging biomarkers for clinical research in Parkinson's disease (PD) and related movement disorders. Single photon emission tomography (SPECT) has played an important role as main molecular imaging modality because of the availability of imaging tools such as dopamine transporter (DAT) radioligands for wide clinical use. At present, SPECT imaging of the DAT is the main diagnostic imaging procedure for the assessment of patients with parkinsonism. However, in the recent years positron emission tomography (PET) has become an important clinical diagnostic modality, mainly in oncology, due to the wide availability of PET/CT systems with improved imaging performance and to the use of 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose ([18F]FDG) as main diagnostic agent. In this context, further development of 18F-radioligands is of high interest for their potential utility in the clinical setting. This review will give a general overview on the development of SPECT and PET radioligands for the dopaminergic system and describe the potential advantages of developing 18F-labelled radioligands for imaging of the dopaminergic system in PD and related movement disorders.