Dat scan waiting 4-5 months

[ChocolateFaceTeddy]

I have been waiting for this scan for over four months now. My neurology consultant has not been able to get it for me yet. Just anybody know what it is and what it entails please and what it shows. Thank you

I now have dates for both PET scan & DAT scan next Wednesday & the following Wednesday

[Kelmisty]

Hi,

I read in your profile that you have CBD, my Mum has CBD and PSP but hasn’t had a DAT Scan so I’m not sure what the purpose is for. But when I looked it up I found this page which appears to explain what a DAT scan is for

bnms.org.uk/page/DATBRainScan

Hope that’s helps x

[Joluu in reply to Kelmisty]

Hi my mum had a dat scan many years ago. My understanding is that it's looking to see if there's problems in the area of the brain that makes dopamine. If there are problems with this area of the brain then it helps diagnosis as there are only a few conditions with this problem . Unfortunately both Parkinson's disease and psp have dopamine issues so it doesn't help distinguish between these 2. It may have other uses but this was all we were told

[Kelmisty in reply to Joluu]

That’s really interesting thank you.

[ChocolateFaceTeddy in reply to Joluu]

thank you so much

[45purple]

Hi my husband had a Dat scan last year he has CBD. He he was diagnosed last year but symptoms for about 2 years prior. Neurologist said he compares Dat scan and MRI together for diagnosis. We are up in Scotland. Take care 💜

[ChocolateFaceTeddy in reply to 45purple]

thank you so much

[GoGreen]

My husband had a DAT scan when the slow movement neurologist was trying to diagnose for PSP. What she said is that it won’t come back as PSP, but will come back as Parkinsonism. With all his classic symptoms, she confirmed his psp. If you have classic symptoms, it mainly just helps the Dr confirm it. The procedure: they put dye in you, wait some minutes or hours, can’t remember, and then they take a pic of brain. It’s not something you have to do, but just helps the Dr.

[Golden63]

Hi I had a Dat scan in 2021. I was referred by my consultant as i was showing other symptoms not related to just Parkinsons. I went to the hospital and they inserted a dye to illuminate the brain . I then was informed to go away for 3 hours for the dye to get circulated around my body/brain The Dat scan was very similar to other scans inasmuch that you can't move but the only part that was in a scan was your head. The process is around 40 minutes . To be honest with you all that it showed was that I had Parkinsons and my rediagnosis to PSP was done by my consultant referring me to another specialist consultant

[ChocolateFaceTeddy in reply to Golden63]

thanks so much for the advice x

[ChocolateFaceTeddy]

I have just received my appointment for DAT scan hopefully a treatment plan will be put in place now x

[Kayelless]

I was offered a DATscan twice but the radiologist said I’d have to go off an antidepressant that I’ve taken for over 30 years beforehand. He wanted me off Prozac for 45 days or he felt the scan might be “dirty.”

It wasn’t a reasonable thing for me to do, for even a week.

Fact is DATscans are often inconclusive or “dirty” (affected by some other known or unknown factor on scan day).

So I won’t have one, which is fine with me. The difficulty in finding a definitive diagnosis has left me no longer needing to know which 3-letter combination is the disease that’s doing this to me. It became too much energy to give to chasing down yet another factor that doesn’t affect the symptom progression.

It was freeing to walk away from needing to know. It gave me more time and energy to put into living every day as best I can.

Kyle