Penn Team Shines at International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders

Penn Medicine’s Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders team was well represented last week at the annual International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders in Toronto. The meeting brings together experts in Parkinson’s disease, related conditions like Huntington’s disease, an involuntary shaking condition called essential tremor, and other neurodegenerative and movement disorders from around the world.

The Penn team presented data from the Parkinson’s Associated Risk Study (PARS), which follows thousands of normal adults as well as first-degree relatives of patients with Parkinson’s disease to evaluate smell and other features as well as brain imaging to identify early signs or risk factors for PD.

The study presented at the  Congress looked at 5,000 patients from a dozen U.S. trial sites, and analyzed their ability to smell along with levels of dopamine transporter (DAT) imaged by SPECT. The study found that people with diminished ability to smell were more likely to have lower levels of dopamine transporter (11.3 percent of smelling-impaired people have a DAT deficit on imaging compared to 1 percent of normal-smelling subjects). In addition to poor sense of smell, additional risk factors for DAT deficits included male gender and constipation.

Preliminary longitudinal data shows that subjects with DAT deficit are more likely to develop signs consistent with PD and a diagnosis of PD or pre-clinical PD over time. These findings raise the hope for detecting Parkinson’s disease in its earliest stages and eventually initiating therapies that may slow or prevent disease onset.

Support for this study was provided by the Department of Defense.

Beyond the research, there was exciting Penn Medicine-related leadership news at the meeting as well. Matthew Stern, MD, Professor of Neurology and director of the PDMD Center, is now the president-elect of the Movement Disorder Society and will take over as president in the next term. This is one of the highest leadership roles in the most prestigious international society for the movement disorders sub-specialty. Congratulations, Dr. Stern!