Evaluation of Neuroinflammation in Parkinson's Disease Using 18F-NOS PET/CT

Summary

Participation Requirements

Description

The purpose of this research is to test whether it is possible to measure inflammation in subject's brain using an imaging scan called Positron Emission Tomography / Computed Tomography (PET/CT). There are two groups of people who will participate in this study, a Parkinson's disease (PD) group and ...

The purpose of this research is to test whether it is possible to measure inflammation in subject's brain using an imaging scan called Positron Emission Tomography / Computed Tomography (PET/CT). There are two groups of people who will participate in this study, a Parkinson's disease (PD) group and a Control group Both groups will have imaging with a radioactive drug called 18F-NOS which is an experimental radioactive drug used in PET/CT imaging to measure inflammation in the brain. 18F-NOS has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use except in a research study. The use 18F-NOS in this study is allowed under an Investigational New Drug Application approved by the FDA. If subject agree to participate in this study, she/ he will undergo one experimental 18F-NOS PET/CT scan. During the scan, PET/CT images will be taken of subject head in order to capture pictures of their brain. The imaging procedures will be explained to subject in more detail below. Blood samples will be taken at various time points to measure the concentration of the imaging drug in your blood during the scan and a blood sample will be collected to measure specialized inflammation markers in the blood. Investigator hopes to compare the PET/CT scans for the two groups to see if there are differences between Parkinson patients and Controls. Investigator will also compare the results with other informationgathered about subject during their participation, including brain MRI and inflammation markers.

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