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I had PET scan. It cost a couple thousand dollars I think. I had to pay, Medicare and secondary didn't cover it. I used it as evidence I had PD to get DBS which was paid for. ray Source: Viartis 1st December 2008 - New research SCANNING METHODS GIVE CERTAINTY IN DIAGNOSING PARKINSON'S DISEASE European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging [2008] Nov 27; [Epub ahead of print] (Eshuis SA, Jager PL, Maguire RP, Jonkman S, Dierckx RA, Leenders KL.) Complete abstract Around 25% of people diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease are wrongly diagnosed. Very false ideas as to what the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease are, and the symptoms of many other medical disorders coinciding with Parkinson's Disease has made the accurate diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease a major problem. This is especially true in the early stages of Parkinson's Disease, because the original diagnosis of many people is based on very mild symptoms. There are two major scanning methods that are used to diagnose Parkinson's Disease : the SPECT scan and the PET scan. Using these methods, the brain is scanned in order to assess the level of dopamine being formed. For more information go to the Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease. This study assessed these two methods to see how reliable they were, and which of them was better. People were assessed who either had : mild Parkinson's Disease, severe Parkinson's Disease, or who didn't have Parkinson's Disease at all. Both scanning methods were able to accurately discriminate people who had Parkinson's Disease from those that didn't. When assessed in the most appropriate parts of the brain, the accuracy was found to be 100% for both methods. The results suggest that scanning should be a routine part of diagnosis. However, the high costs of carrying out scans for some people and in many countries can make this method of diagnosis prohibitive. Rayilyn Brown Director AZNPF Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn