Thyroid [123I]MIBG uptake in Parkinson’s disease and diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Thyroid [123I]MIBG uptake is proposed as a tool for differentiating between Parkinson's disease (PD) and diabetes mellitus (DM) on [123I]MIBG scintigraphies since both patient groups show decreased cardiac uptake. One study compared thyroid [123I]MIBG uptake in DM and PD patients and reported reduced [123I]MIBG uptake only in the PD group. Here, we investigated thyroid [123I]MIBG uptake in patients with PD and DM and found severely reduced thyroid [123I]MIBG uptake in DM. Larger studies are needed to substantiate whether DM patients are more or less likely to exhibit decreased thyroid MIBG uptake compared to controls and PD patients.