A cutting-edge MRI technique to detect iron deposits in different brain regions can track declines in thinking, memory and movement in people with Parkinson’s disease, finds a new study.

The findings, published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, suggest that measures of brain iron might eventually help predict which people with Parkinson’s will develop dementia.

«Iron in the brain is of growing interest to people researching neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and dementias. As you get older, iron accumulates in the brain, but it’s also linked to the build-up of harmful brain proteins, so we’re starting to find evidence that it could be useful in monitoring disease progression, and potentially even in diagnostics,» said the study’s lead author, Dr Rimona Weil (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology).

The study involved 97 people with Parkinson’s disease, who had been diagnosed within the last 10 years, along with 37 people without the condition, as a control (comparison) group. They were tested for their thinking and memory as well as for their motor function.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive condition of brain degeneration resulting in tremors, stiffness and slowness of movement. Close to 50% of people with the condition end up developing dementia, but the timing and severity vary substantially.

Currently there are no reliable measures to track Parkinson’s progression in the brain, so clinicians rely on monitoring symptoms. Conventional brain imaging fails to track progression until quite a late stage, when large-scale brain volume loss can be detected.

Story Source:
Materials provided by University College London. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.