DETROIT – William "Tank" Hill used to be a professional welterweight fighter. Today, he's fighting a different yet powerful opponent - Parkinson's disease.
"I got Parkinson's. Parkinson's ain't got me," said Hill.
Debora Bergstrom is also battling the condition that causes tremors, balance problems and speech issues. The mom of three was diagnosed four years ago by a neurologist.
"She told me to stand up, walk, she rotated my arms and hands, and she said, 'Yes, you have Parkinson's,'" said Bergstrom.
But many people wait years before getting that diagnosis.
Parkinson's is typically diagnosed when doctors examine patients for the telltale physical symptoms. But those observations aren't always accurate. Research finds 40 percent of Parkinson's patients are undiagnosed and at least 10 percent who are diagnosed don't really have the disease.
Parkinson's disease occurs when certain brain cells that make the nerve transmitter dopamine are slowly destroyed.
Nuclear medicine specialist Dr. Louise Thomson of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said a new imaging test called a DaTscan is giving doctors a glimpse inside the brain of people with Parkinson's. First, doctors inject patients with a small amount of a radioactive drug. Then, they scan the brain for dopamine.
"This imaging has been available in Europe for a decade, and this agent is now approved for use in the United States. So we're going to be catching up with what Europe is doing already," said Thomson.
Thomson said the test can tell doctors if the patient has Parkinson's or just a tremor disorder - which is treated differently.
"This is a game changer. It's going to lead to earlier diagnosis and clearer diagnosis for patients with tremor," said Thomson. "You want to know whether you've got something that's going to get worse over time or whether it's something that's benign, that's just going to be there. It helps also for the doctor looking after the patient; you can know whether or not to treat it with one form of medication or not to treat it."
An earlier diagnosis means patients can start treatments sooner, potentially slowing symptom development of this devastating disease.
The DaTscan is covered by most insurers including Medicare and is locally available at larger hospitals like Beaumont Hospital, St. John Hospital, Providence Hospital, the University Of Michigan and Henry Ford Hospital.
To learn more about the DaTscan, click here.
To read a comparison of DaTscans versus PET scans, click here.