DAT SCAN and cost

[Ajssister]

Hi, I’m AJ’s sister and my brother AJ possibly has PD. He’s undergoing MRI test and the DAT scan test. When the neurologist referred us to a place in Central Florida for this DAT scan the 20% Medicare AARP United healthcare co-pay was $700! I flipped out. How many people can afford that as a co-pay? So I called the Florida Hospital group and found that his co-pay there for the very same test would only be $236. Big big difference! I called our Parkinson’s foundation here to let them know and I just wanted to put it out there for anyone else leading that test for diagnosis to please shop around check around and also speak to the facilities insurance billing department. Good luck

[sharron2]

My husband is diagnosed with Parkinson's and had a negative DAT scan. So the test is not 100% conclusive.

[Hikoi in reply to sharron2]

Yes I have head of this. I think they are still learning the types of PD.

“Recently, in studies that have attempted to diagnose Parkinson’s early in its course, researchers have found that a subset of patients thought to have Parkinson’s disease have turned up with negative PET or DaT scans. These patients do not seem to develop the progressive symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The findings are humbling, and they lend credence to the importance of following patients over long periods of time to ensure both accurate diagnosis, and also appropriate treatment. “

parkinson.org/blog/whats-ho...

[PDConscience in reply to Hikoi]

It becomes even more complicated when some sub-types (like 'Tremor Dominant') are not due to dopamine deficiency in the striatum (*in other words, a dopamine deficiency is less likely to be indicated on a DaTscan), but in the putamen - while the tremor severity correlates more with "seratonin transporter deficiency" than with "dopamine transporter deficiency":

"In this issue of Brain, Pasquini et al. (2018) provide evidence that rest (and by implication 're-emergent') tremor is more likely related to serotonin than to dopamine deficiency... Pasquini and colleagues found that the severity of rest tremor correlated with the loss of serotonin transporter in the brainstem raphe nuclei more than with the loss of dopamine transporter in the striatum. This is consistent with other studies that have shown that striatal dopamine is relatively spared in patients with the tremor dominant form of Parkinson's disease, and that rest tremor is related more to pallidal than striatal dopamine deficiency, and to involvement of serotonergic raphe nuclei and the noradrenergic locus coeruleus (Politis and Niccolini, 2015). The predominant serotonin deficiency in patients with prominent rest tremor may also explain why such tremors disappear during sleep and why they are often less responsive to levodopa than other cardinal features such as bradykinesia or rigidity. Indeed, in the study by Pasquini and colleagues, more severe degeneration in raphe compared to putaminal nuclei correlated with a poorer response of tremor to dopamine replacement therapy.”

Source: drive.google.com/file/d/196...

[october61]

AJssister,

Really? As this illness overwhelms AJs life I doubt that you will find time to complain about the cost, you will give everything that you own to try and stop AJs condition.

I cannot work, I have no health insurance, my wife is watching me waste away. She works her ass off to pay for my meds’.

All the money in the world cannot stop this condition.

[park_bear in reply to october61]

Please take a look at high dose thiamine/vitamin B1 discussed elsewhere on this forum.

Also, especially for costs not covered by insurance it pays to shop around. AJSSister saved $464 that way - it would take many hours of labor to earn that.

[Ajssister in reply to park_bear]

Thank you. I will be getting B1 to add to his vitamins group. God bless.

[park_bear in reply to Ajssister]

Here are a couple of discussions of B1 that are relevant:

healthunlocked.com/parkinso...

healthunlocked.com/parkinso...

[Ajssister in reply to october61]

Dear october61, my intention for posting the experience I had regarding the DAT Scan Co pay cost was exactly for someone like yourself who may need the info of a lesser cost option. Im sorry my post upset you so. Sincerely, AJ’s sister

[ddmagee1 in reply to october61]

Reality sets in. Likewise, I cannot work, and our health insurance premiums are really expensive, and then I don’t even want to talk about the high deductibles! All we can do is try and stay positive, but that is not the easiest thing to do!

[45653]

I’m aj to

[bassofspades]

You gotta get things like this preauthorised by the insurance people. Actually, the scheduling people should have taken care of that before they booked him for the scan. Try to negotiate?