(Brenda Goodman/ CNN Health) — A lab test that can tell doctors if someone has Parkinson’s disease is a long-sought goal of researchers.
Doctors currently diagnose the progressive condition by looking for telltale physical symptoms: tremors, a halting gait, stiffness or trouble balancing. About 90,000 Americans are diagnosed on the basis of these symptoms each year, according to a recent study.
These signs can be subtle at first, and it can be difficult to discriminate Parkinson’s from other disorders until the disease is more advanced and affects more of the brain.
The lack of a lab test that can pick up the disease in its early stages has also stymied the search for new treatments. Studying a group of people with the same movement symptoms could mean inadvertently including those whose condition could be caused by something else.
It also means people are usually studied when the disease process is well under way. Many therapies work best when they’re given at the first sign of symptoms, or even before. (…)