Simon Fraser University researchers are using a new approach to brain imaging that could improve how drugs are prescribed to treat Parkinson’s disease.  

The new study, published in the journal Movement Disorders, looks at why levodopa – the main drug used in dopamine replacement therapy – is sometimes less effective in patients. 

The drug is typically prescribed to help reduce the movement symptoms associated with the neurodegenerative disorder.  

While it is effective in improving symptoms for the vast majority of patients, not everyone experiences the same level of benefit.  

In order to find out why this is the case, an SFU collaboration with researchers in Sweden has used magnetoencephalography (MEG) technology to determine how the drug affects signals in the brain.