June 21, 2000
Breakthrough Aids In Parkinson's Detection
Heather Kahn Reports
It appears that scientists have made a medical breakthrough in the early
detection of Parkinson's disease.
A chemical called Altropane, developed at Boston Life Sciences, may
provide patients with a safer, faster and cheaper means of being tested.
NewsCenter 5's Heather Kahn reports that when actor Michael J. Fox first
told of his battle with Parkinson's disease, the news shocked the
nation. But great strides have been made since that announcement.
Researchers have found a way to visualize the degree of damage in the
brains of people with Parkinson's.
"Altropane-spect technology is a way of injecting a chemical into a vein
that then travels across the blood brain barrier, gets into the brain,
and then attaches like a lock and key to a special area in the brain
called the dopa transporter," Dr. Paula Ravin of UMass Memorial said.
By locking into this area of the brain, doctors can photograph it to see
if there's an adequate supply of dopamine. Inadequate dopamine is the
hallmark of Parkinson's disease.
"We think that it's actually so sensitive that it can pick it up even
before people have symptoms," Ravin said.
Early detection is extremely important. Doctors say that by the time
clear symptoms appear, roughly 80 percent of the affected brain pathway
has already been lost.
Patient Tony Cotoia has benefited from early detection.
"I went from one doctor to another doctor, from a chiropractor who said
maybe it was back problems, to a foot doctor who says, 'maybe you got
flat feet," Cotoia said.
Traditional diagnoses have been wrong one out of five times. Altropane
could allow doctors to not only detect Parkinson's earlier, but also get
patients on medication sooner, slowing the progress of the disease.
"I'm like a kid reborn again," Cotoia said. "I always wanted to fool
around with electric trains, and I finally got a set, and I've got three
of them now, so I fix them. And I've got the little kids down the street
who come down, so they keep me busy."
If Altropane receives FDA approval, it could be widely available to
Parkinson's patients by early next year. It's also being studied as an
agent to help detect attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Copyright © 2000 Yahoo and WCVB.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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