Researchers from Queen Mary University of London have discovered, using a special type of MRI, that dementia can be identified long before it occurs today, they write. Science Pictorial.
The test itself takes just ten minutes. It is 80 percent accurate in identifying dementia up to nine years before diagnosis.
Watch the video: Showcasing life before dementia diagnosis in new campaign
The researchers relied on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, which show activity in specific areas of the brain. The scans were performed on 1,100 people.
– The benefit of treatments can be determined.
Clinical neurology professor Charles Marshall hopes their method will help more accurately predict whether a person is at risk of developing dementia.
– And how quickly this happens, so we can determine whether they could benefit from future treatments, he says in a press release.
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With the help of artificial intelligence, the researchers will have analyzed brain scans to assess how well ten parts of the brain communicate. These ten parts form a special neural network, and are known to be particularly vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease.
80 percent of cases
The researchers compared the brain scans with data from registered patients, using artificial intelligence-based analyses.
They then concluded that in 80% of cases the development of dementia could be predicted up to nine years before the actual diagnosis.
However, further studies are needed to confirm the British researchers' observations, Illustrert Vitenskap wrote.
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