Grant: Operating Grant

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder that affects the means by which the brain controls movement. Treatments that are currently available are reasonably effective at improving the symptoms in mildly to moderately affected individuals although some features associated with disease progression, such as impaired gait and balance, often do not respond well to medication. Current treatments do not alter the progressive nature of the underlying disease process. In order to evaluate the efficacy of new strategies to slow progression and to learn more about the gait changes associated with PD, we propose evaluating techniques that use magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and spectroscopy to measure the changes in the brain that occur in this disorder. These studies will be performed in the Movement Disorders Clinic at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital and at the Peter S. Allen MR Research Centre at the University of Alberta. We will correlate the changes observed on magnetic resonance scans with the clinical changes in movement that we detect in the same patients, paying particular attention to changes in gait patterns. We will also correlate these changes with those seen on positron emission tomography (PET) scans, to be done on many of the same patients at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Our goal is to develop a new tool that can be used to evaluate disease progression in Parkinson's and to use this tool to assess the changes in the brain that occur in very early disease and in conjunction with worsening gait and movement problems.