---
title: Track axial and cognitive progression
nct_id: NCT07187843
status: RECRUITING
sponsor: Azienda USL Reggio Emilia - IRCCS
study_type: OBSERVATIONAL
canonical_url: "https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT07187843"
clinicaltrials_gov: "https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07187843"
last_fetched: "2026-05-10T14:06:15.916Z"
source: "Parkinson's Pathways (curated)"
---
# Track axial and cognitive progression

**Goal (in five words):** Track axial and cognitive progression

**Official Title:** Study of the Progression of Axial and Cognitive Symptoms and Biomarkers of Neurodegeneration in Patients With Parkinson's Disease Divided Into Brain-first and Body-first Phenotypes

**Trial ID:** [NCT07187843](https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07187843)

## Key Facts

- **Status:** RECRUITING
- **Study Type:** OBSERVATIONAL
- **Sponsor:** Azienda USL Reggio Emilia - IRCCS
- **Target Enrollment:** 150 participants
- **Start Date:** 2024-09-04
- **Completion Date:** 2025-10-30
- **Conditions:** Parkinson Disease, Parkinsonian Disorders, Brain Disease, Basal Ganglia Diseases, Synucleinopathies
- **Interventions:** Clinical assessments, Phenotypic classification
- **Intervention Types:** OTHER

## Summary For Families

The goal is to compare how balance, gait, posture and thinking skills change over time in people with Parkinson's who show a brain-first pattern versus a body-first pattern. Participants are sorted into those groups using overnight polysomnography to look for REM sleep behavior disorder, SPECT DAT scans to measure dopamine transporter loss, and 123I‑MIBG heart scans to assess cardiac autonomic involvement, then receive regular clinical assessments and biomarker testing to track axial and cognitive progression. DAT SPECT shows nigrostriatal dopamine loss and MIBG reveals peripheral autonomic denervation, helping explain different symptom patterns. Adults 18 and older with a confirmed Parkinson's diagnosis who can give informed consent are eligible, while people with a doubtful diagnosis or who cannot consent are excluded.

## Eligibility

- **Minimum age:** 18 Years
- **Sex:** ALL

### Full Criteria

```
Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients diagnosed with PD according to the MDS Clinical Diagnostic Criteria for Parkinson's Disease divided into brain-first and body-first phenotypes, based on the presence or absence of a REM sleep behavior disorder diagnosed using ambulatory polysomnography methods according to the criteria of the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD-3) criteria and on data from SPECT with DATSCAN and myocardial innervation scintigraphy \[123I-MIBG\].
* Free and informed consent expressed by the participant.
* At least 18 years of age.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Inability to express free and informed consent.
* Patient with a doubtful diagnosis.
* Participant under 18 years of age.
```

## Locations (1)

- Azienda USL IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy _(44.6983, 10.6312)_
  - Francesco Cavallieri, MD — (CONTACT) — francesco.cavallieri@ausl.re.it

## Central Contacts

- Francesco Cavallieri, MD — (CONTACT) — francesco.cavallieri@ausl.re.it
- Stefania Croci, BSc — (CONTACT) — stefania.Croci@ausl.re.it

---

*Canonical: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT07187843*  
*HTML version: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT07187843*  
*Source data: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07187843*