NeurologyLive’s MEDcast recently released an episode titled “Paradigm Shift in Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis” that included a robust discussion of the Syn-One Test and its utility in clinical practice.
The video is hosted by Stuart H. Isaacson, MD, FAAN, Director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center in Boca Raton, Florida and Rajesh Pahwa, MD, Professor of Neurology and Director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas. The hosts spoke with Joy Antonelle de Marcaida, MD, Medical Director of the David & Rhoda Chase Family Movement Disorders Center of Hartford Healthcare about her experience with the Syn-One Test.
“We have found that having [the Syn-One Test] as another way to confirm a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in our patients has been invaluable.” Dr. de Marcaida noted that not all patients need the Syn-One Test, but when a clinician is unsure of a diagnosis or a patient is doubtful, it helps instill confidence and supports shared decision-making.
The video includes a discussion of various diagnostic tools for Parkinson’s and their utility, including genetic testing, neuroimaging, cerebrospinal fluid and blood tests, and testing for alpha-synuclein, and how clinicians can use these tools to help them arrive at a diagnosis much earlier in the disease course. Dr. Pahwa described the experience of telling patients with early symptoms of Parkinson’s to come back in six months or a year to see if their symptoms have evolved, “but now there’s no reason to wait.”
Elaborating on the Syn-One Test, Dr. de Marcaida pointed out that “It’s much easier than the DaTscan for our patient because it’s an office visit; it takes us 15 minutes to get the three punch biopsies … The samples are sent immediately to a centralized lab that has done pretty much the most robust research in cutaneous phosphorylated alpha-synuclein detection.”
“Making an accurate and early diagnosis can impact [patients’] lives, can impact their families’ lives, and now that we have all of these tools, there’s no reason not to take advantage … These are very exciting times for us in the clinical field.” Dr. de Marcaida. “We can diagnose Parkinson’s much better, much easier in 2023,” said Dr. Pahwa.
Watch the video on
NeurologyLive
Listen to the podcast on
NeurologyLive,
Spotify,
Google Podcasts, or
Amazon Music.
