@article{Itti_etal09nmc,
  title = {Dopamine transporter imaging under high-dose transdermal nicotine therapy in Parkinson's disease: an observational study},
  author = {E. Itti and G. Villafane and Z. Malek and P. Brugieres and D. Capacchione and L. Itti and P. Maison and P. Cesaro and M. Meignan},
  abstract = {OBJECTIVES: Nicotine therapy might improve the course of Parkinson's disease. This observational study evaluated the performance of dopamine transporter imaging in follow-up patients under nicotine therapy. METHODS: Six Hoehn and Yahr stage III patients underwent 123I-FP-CIT imaging prior to, 3 months, and 1 year after the onset of nicotine therapy. Nicotine was administered transdermally with increasing daily doses during 3 months (up to 105 mg/day) and decreased progressively. On co-registered magnetic resonance imaging, striatal regions of interest were drawn and binding potentials of 123I-FP-CIT were calculated.Changes in Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-III over time were compared with binding potentials using regression analysis. RESULTS: All patients improved motor scores at 3 months (-65 +/- 22\% 'off', -89 +/- 12\% 'on') and most received fewer dopaminergic drugs (-30\% dosage in average). Motor improvement persisted to a lesser extent at 1 year(-39 +/- 31\% 'off', -13 +/- 43\% 'on'), partly because one patient stopped the treatment. Interestingly, the decrease in binding potentials (-4.0 +/- 10.5\%) was slower than that expected in Parkinsonian patients (usually -10\% per year) and was inversely correlated with Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-III improvement, r= 0.83 'off' and 0.91 'on'. CONCLUSION: This observational study emphasizes a potential effect of nicotine therapy on striatal dopamine transporter density, which may be interpreted as direct pharmacological effect or deceleration of neuronal loss.},
  journal = {Nuclear Medicine Communications},
  volume = {30},
  number = {7},
  pages = {513-518},
  month = {Jul},
  year = {2009},
  type = {med;mip},
  if = {2008 impact factor: 1.706}
}