New Tracers and New Perspectives for Molecular Imaging in Lewy Body Diseases

Title:New Tracers and New Perspectives for Molecular Imaging in Lewy Body Diseases

Volume: 25 Issue: 26

Author(s): Matteo Bauckneht, Dario Arnaldi, Flavio Nobili, Dag Aarsland and Silvia Morbelli*

Affiliation:

• Nuclear Medicine Unit, Department of Health Sciences, Policlinic San Martino Hospital, 16132 Genoa,Italy

Keywords: Parkinson disease, lewy bodies dementia, Parkinson disease dementia, molecular imaging, positron emission tomography, single photon emission tomography.

Abstract: The term Lewy body diseases (LBDs) refers to a subset of neurodegenerative disorders that share the accumulation of the so-called Lewy bodies (LB) including: Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and PD later characterized by the occurrence of dementia (PDD). Moreover, multiple system atrophy (MSA) and idiopatic Rem Sleeping behaviour disorders (RBD) complete the group of synucleinopathies and have also common symptoms with respect to LBDs. The clinical diagnosis of LBDs can be challenging for physicians, particularly in the early stages of disease. Given the growing number of individuals affected by these neurodegenerative disorders, early and accurate diagnosis can lead to improved clinical management of patients. For this reason, information obtained from molecular imaging biomarkers is playing an increasingly important role in this framework. The present narrative review discusses both established milestones and new evidence on the use of molecular imaging tracers already part of the clinical practice as well as available evidence on new molecular imaging approaches in PD, PDD and DLB.

Cite this article as:

Bauckneht Matteo, Arnaldi Dario, Nobili Flavio, Aarsland Dag and Morbelli Silvia*, New Tracers and New Perspectives for Molecular Imaging in Lewy Body Diseases, Current Medicinal Chemistry 2018; 25 (26) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/0929867324666170609080000