Two Penn Medicine studies were released this week by the Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
The first article, led by Daniel Weintraub, MD, associate professor of Psychiatry and Neurology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, notes that half of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and psychosis receive prescriptions for antipsychotic agents, including drugs that have the potential to worsen Parkinson's symptoms. The frequency of use of these agents has not changed since the FDA issued a black box warning about using these drugs in patients with dementia, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
To read more about Dr. Weintraub's study, see the JAMA/Archives news release. This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health.
In the second study, David Wolk, MD, assistant professor of Neurology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues studied the use of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to help identify findings in brain tissue associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD).
The research team evaluated use of a tracer called fluorine 18-labeled flutemetamol and conducted PET scans on seven patients who were given a dose of this substance. Researchers found correspondence between readings of the PET scans and evidence of amyloid lesions-the plaque associated with AD-provided by microscopic evaluation of the biopsied tissue.
"With the potential emergence of disease-specific interventions for AD," said Dr. Wolk , "biomarkers that provide molecular specificity will likely become of greater importance in the differential diagnosis of cognitive impairment in older adults."
For more information about this study, see the JAMA/Archives news release. Dr. Wolk's study was entirely sponsored by GE Healthcare.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.