Using Advanced Brain Imaging to Identify Biomarkers for Parkinsons Disease Progression and Diagnosis of Parkinsonian Syndromes

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are studying Parkinson disease PD, multiple systems atrophy MSA, progressive supranuclear palsy PSP, and healthy controls to find biomarkers using neuroimaging that can predict how fast PD progresses and help distinguish between these conditions. The study aims to fill gaps in managing parkinsonian symptoms by developing imaging biomarkers for disease progression and differential diagnosis. This observational study lasts two years and uses advanced imaging and statistical methods to analyze brain scans and clinical data. The study has two parts first, enrolling PD patients with known progression rates to identify imaging markers related to disease speed second, recruiting new participants with PD, MSA, PSP, and healthy controls to undergo clinical assessments and neuroimaging at three visits about 6-8 months apart. Evaluations include various disease-specific rating scales and questionnaires. These data will be analyzed with machine learning to develop biomarkers for diagnosis and progression. Participants will attend study visits where they undergo multimodal neuroimaging and clinical tests to track disease symptoms and severity. Clinical scales used include the MDS-UPDRS for PD, UMSARS for MSA, PSPRS for PSP, and others, repeated at baseline, mid-study, and end of study visits. The research team will measure changes over time and correlate imaging findings with clinical progression. The study includes healthy volunteers for comparison and requires participants to commit to the full two-year period with no plans to move away.

Facilitating Diagnostics and Prognostics of Parkinsonian Syndromes Using Neuroimaging