Doctors have been using DaTscan brain imaging as a tool to help diagnose the Parkinson’s disease (PD) for more than a decade, but even people who know a lot about the disease often still have questions about its role — and the role of other imaging tools — in diagnosis and care. What’s a DaTscan, and how does it relate to PET, SPECT and MRI? When is a DaTscan or other brain imaging tool used in PD? Are there any risks? 

In this audio from our Third Thursdays Webinar, experts and people with PD offer listeners an impromptu course in Brain Imaging 101. You’ll learn to differentiate the different types of imaging used to visualize the brain and how they are used in PD research and care. You’ll also learn the latest in efforts to visualize alpha-synuclein, the protein that misfolds and clumps in Parkinson’s, and what its selective imaging in the living brain will mean for PD clinical trials and care. 

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Whether you have Parkinson’s or not, you can help move research forward. Join the study that’s changing everything. Find out more at michaeljfox.org/podcast-ppmi.

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The Foundation’s landmark research study is exploring the connection between sense of smell and brain disease. People with and without Parkinson's can help by taking a free scratch-and-sniff test. Get yours at mysmelltest.org/request.