Parkinson’s disease detectable before physical symptoms show, Australian research finds

Lead researcher Prof Kevin Barnham says Parkinson’s disease is often thought of as an illness of old age, when in fact it starts in midlife. Photograph: Samunella/Alamy

Australian researchers have developed a way of highlighting changes in the brain that mark the progression of Parkinson’s disease years before physical symptoms show.

Researchers at the Florey Institute and Austin Health in Melbourne have shown it is possible to detect signs of Parkinson’s disease, a debilitating neurodegenerative condition, by injecting patients with a synthetic compound, known as 18F-AV-133, designed to bind to a protein in the brain known as VMAT2.