Clinical utility of F-fluorodopa positron emission tomography in the movement disorder clinic: an Australian experience.

Background: Differentiating idiopathic Parkinson disease (iPD) from other causes of tremor and parkinsonism based on clinical grounds can be challenging, particularly early in the course of disease or in the case of atypical clinical presentations. F-fluorodopa (F-DOPA) is a positron emission tomography (PET) radioligand that can be used to demonstrate the presence and pattern of striatal presynaptic dopaminergic deficit and, thus, assist in the diagnosis of iPD and related disorders.

Aims: To determine the clinical utility of F-DOPA PET in an Australian movement disorder clinic setting.