A Study Evaluating Potential Screening Tools for Detecting Parkinson Disease

This study is designed as a prospective cohort study to test the strategy of combining two biomarkers of parkinsonism, olfaction and brain imaging with a radioactively labeled drug, \[123I\]β-CIT , in a population of first-degree relatives of PD patients as a tool to establish an 'at risk' Parkinson disease cohort without motor symptoms of PD.

SPECT imaging uses the single photon emissions from radioactive compounds that are (most commonly) injected into a patient and are metabolized by specific organs or body systems. SPECT imaging is performed by using a gamma camera to acquire multiple 2-D images (also called projections),