Scientists Identify 2 Distinct Parkinson's Networks

MANHASSET, NY – The disease that causes tremors, rigidity and slowed movements in a million Americans also targets another brain network that regulates cognitive thought and the ability to carry out everyday tasks. David Eidelberg, MD, head of the Center for Neurosciences at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, and his colleagues measured and quantified this network of brain regions during a five-year study of newly diagnosed Parkinson’s patients who agreed to be followed several times over the course of the study. This is the first longitudinal study of Parkinson’s disease using a brain scan to follow these Parkinson’s network over time. The new report appears in an online version in the journal Brain, and will be published soon in a print version.