Valtteri Kaasinen
MD, PhD, Professor of Neurology
valtteri.kaasinen@utu.fi |
Clinical Neurology; Movement Disorders; Parkinson's disease; Addictions; Neurotransmitters; Neuroimaging; PET; SPECT; Dopamine System
Movement disorders, neurotransmitters and addictions
Dr. Kaasinen is Professor of Neurology at the University of Turku, and Chief Physician at Neurocenter of Turku University Hospital.
He was appointed as Adjuct Professor of Neurology in 2011, received special competence in medical education in 2016, and was appointed as full Professor of Neurology in 2021.
Dr. Kaasinen is a clinical neurologist and a movement disorder specialist who received his medical degree from the University of Turku in 1996. This was followed by a PhD focusing on brain dopamine PET imaging of Parkinson's disease in 2000. He did his postdoctoral training in 2003-2004 in the University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
Since 2004, he has led a research group that focuses on function brain PET and SPECT neurotransmitter imaging in Parkinson's disease, other movement disorders and behavioral addictions. His group is involved in several project that aim to improve diagnostics and treatment of neurological movement disorders.
Main focus of research is brain function and dysfunction in relation to neurotransmitters, addictions and movement disorders.
Dr. Kaasinen has been involved in curriculum planning and implementation of neurology courses since 2013. He is a personal teacher mentor for medical students and has supervised of several PhD students.
- Striatal dopamine uptake measured with fdopa pet and cognition in advanced PD (2006)
- Journal of the Neurological Sciences
- Fatty acid uptake in various brain regions measured with [C-11]-palmitate, [F-18]FTHA and PET (2005)
- DiabetologiaBrain
- Mapping brain structure and personality in late adulthood (2005)
- NeuroImage
- Striatal FDOPA uptake and cognition in advanced non-demented PD patients: A clinical and PET study (2005)
- Neurology
- Dopaminergic effects of caffeine in the human striatum and thalamus (2004)
- NeuroReport
- Expectation of caffeine induces dopaminergic responses in humans (2004)
- European Journal of Neuroscience
- Hippocampal and prefrontal atrophy in patients with early non-demented Parkinson's disease is related to cognitive impairment (2004)
- Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
- Insular dopamine D-2 receptors and novelty seeking personality in Parkinson's disease (2004)
- Movement Disorders
- Brain acetylcholinesterase activity impairment and early Alzheimer's in mild cognitive disease (2003)
- Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
- Extrastriatal dopamine D-2 receptors in Parkinson's disease: a longitudinal study (2003)
- Journal of Neural Transmission
- Hippocampal dopamine D2 receptors correlate with memory functions in Alzheimer's disease (2003)
- European Journal of Neuroscience
- Age-related loss of extrastriatal dopamine D-2-like receptors in women (2002)
- Journal of Neurochemistry
- Different brain activation patterns during production of animals versus artefacts: a PET activation study on category-specific processing (2002)
- Cognitive Brain Research
- Functional imaging studies of dopamine system and cognition in normal aging and Parkinson's disease (2002)
- Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
- Hippocampal dopamine D2 receptors are involved in memory functions in Alzheimer's disease (2002)
- Neurobiology of Aging
- Personality traits and striatal 6-[F-18]fluoro-L-dopa uptake in healthy elderly subjects (2002)
- Neuroscience Letters
- Regional effects of donepezil and rivastigmine on cortical acetylcholinesterase activity in Alzheimer's disease (2002)
- Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology
- Striatal dopamine transporter and extrapyramidal symptoms in frontotemporal dementia (2002)
- Neurology
- Increased frontal [F-18]fluorodopa uptake in early Parkinson's Disease: sex differences in the prefrontal cortex (2001)
- Personality traits and brain dopaminergic function in Parkinson's disease (2001)
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America



