In honor of national Parkinson’s month, CN2 news in Rock Hill, SC featured Memory & Movement Charlotte, a medical practice focused on Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions, where Medical Director Dr. Sanjay Iyer has recently started offering the Syn-One Test to his patients.

Dr. Iyer notes that a DaTscan—a brain scan used to confirm a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease—can cost thousands of dollars, takes several hours, and may not be covered by insurance. By contrast, the skin biopsy procedure for a Syn-One Test takes about 30 minutes, is far less expensive than a DaTscan, and is often covered by insurance.

Using tiny samples of skin from the back of the neck, just above the knee, and just above the ankle, CND Life Sciences can detect the presence of phosphorylated alpha-synuclein, an abnormal protein that accumulates in patients with Parkinson’s, dementia with Lewy bodies, multiple system atrophy, and pure autonomic failure.

“There have been reports that you can identify [alpha-synuclein] even as early as 10 years before the first symptoms show up,” says Dr. Iyer. “That’ll become important as we develop more tools and medications that will slow progression or maybe stop the disease in its tracks.”

One of Dr. Iyer’s patients recounts how previous diagnostic tests hadn’t provided answers about the symptoms he was experiencing but that the Syn-One Test had put that uncertainty to rest. “Not every case is clear-cut … the tough ones are when they look a little bit like Parkinson’s, but they have a lot of other features …” Now with the Syn-One Test, says Dr. Iyer, “We can show people, ‘Yes, you have Parkinson’s.’”

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(Story begins at 05:58)