Amyloid and cognitive predictors of dementia in Parkinson’s

Cognitive decline and dementia are now recognised as an essential part of Parkinson’s disease, which ultimately becomes the most burdensome aspect of this disease. We know that those exhibiting mild cognitive impairments are at increased risk for developing dementia, but we have established that some individuals not showing cognitive impairments also exhibit increased risk.

Here, we will perform advance positron emission tomography (PET) and MRI scans, and clinical evaluation in Parkinson’s patients with both high and low risk for developing dementia. We will determine whether PET imaging adds further information about an individual’s risk of future dementia. This will advance our understanding of this important issue and establish a useful and reliable tool for researchers and clinicians.

It is critical that we can do this so that preventative treatments to protect against dementia can be targeted at the most appropriate patients when that treatment becomes available and also to select the right “at risk” Parkinson’s patients for trials of new treatments.