Parkinson MR Imaging Repository: Part 1 - Multicentre MRI study in PD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
PaMIR: Parkinson Magnetic Reconance Imaging Repository - Part 1 - Multicentre Magnetic Resonance Imaging study in Parkinson’s disease
IRAS ID
124223
Contact name
Dorothee P Auer
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Research summary
There is a recognized need for novel biomarkers to improve early diagnosis and monitoring of Parkinson’s, a disorder progressively affecting movement and cognition. Different technologies are currently being researched for identification and qualification of such biomarkers. We, and others have recently shown that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) holds unique promise for direct visualization of the core brain abnormality defining the disorder, namely substantia nigra (SN) degeneration, as well as for the study of co-ordination of activity between brain centres. Our preliminary results suggest that SN depigmentation and altered brain networks correlate with stage, severity and subtype of the disease. We hypothesize that multimodal MRI is ideally suited to improve diagnosis and to monitor the progression of Parkinson’s. MRI biomarker research in Parkinson’s is an emerging field with limited and often controversial findings. To overcome this we propose to collect MRI data from 300 patients and 100 healthy controls in a larger scale study. This will help to assess the diagnostic accuracy and predictive power of novel MRI biomarkers. Candidate MRI markers were selected from meta-analyses of published evidence and our own pilot and proof of concept studies. We plan to collect MRI data using a newly developed protocol dedicated to highlighting the underlying brain abnormalities in Parkinsons. Altogether 200 patients with Parkinson’s disease will either be co-recruited from the Tracking Parkinson’s longitudinal cohort study or recruited separately. Additionally control data will be included from 100 age matched healthy controls. 150 people with and 50 without the condition will be rescanned after 18 months to assess progression. A separate ethics application will be submitted to collate the collected data into one of the worlds largest repository of advanced MRI linked to clinical, genetic and novel blod biomarkers in Parkinson’s.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/0061
Date of REC Opinion
23 Apr 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion