Brain scans 'may spot Alzheimer's a decade earlier'

By Jenny Hope for the Daily Mail
Updated:

Brain scans could help detect changes leading to Alzheimer’s disease up to a decade before the symptoms develop, claim researchers.

A study suggests that areas of the brain affected by the disease start shrinking many years earlier.

Detecting the illness in its earliest stages would enable new treatments to be tested on those who would benefit most.

Early detection? One in three over-65s will die with dementia but new research suggest scans could detect signs of the diseases up to a decade before symptoms begin to appear

Early detection? One in three over-65s will die with dementia but new research suggest scans could detect signs of the diseases up to a decade before symptoms begin to appear

U.S. researchers behind the study say magnetic resonance (MR) scanning is not yet ready to use in diagnosing Alzheimer’s, but the findings bring the prospect closer.

Dr Brad Dickerson, who led the research team from Rush University Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital, said: ‘We determined that those who ultimately developed dementia showed subtle shrinking long before they had any symptoms.

‘This measure is potentially an important imaging marker of early changes in the brain that could help predict who might develop the disease and possibly even how long it might be before dementia develops.’

One in three people over 65 will die with dementia.

At present there are no clinical tests available for early stages of the disease. Patients are identified using memory and other cognitive tests, with a definitive diagnosis taking place only after death when the brain tissue is examined.

LOG ON TO STAY YOUNG AT HEART

Using Facebook and other social networks can keep pensioners’ brains active and put off memory loss, a study has found.

Researchers monitored OAPs in two residential care homes who were given laptops with wireless internet connections.

They spent at least one hour a day on the internet, and were introduced to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as YouTube and Skype.

The results showed those who embraced the technology had better memories and were more alert than those who did not. The study also found the use of social networks also reduced anxiety, stress and depression.

‘Social networks and IT technologies keep the cultural curiosity of the elderly alive,’ said Marco Trabucchi of the Association of Psychogeriatrics in Italy, where the research was conducted.

‘Facebook is a window to the world for our elderly residents. They really enjoy spending time searching social network sites. It allows them to keep contact with younger members of their family.

‘It keeps them alert and on the ball. It keeps them young at heart.’

Although existing drugs can slow progression of Alzheimer’s, there is no cure. For the study, researchers used MR scans in people in their 70s with no signs of Alzheimer’s.

They found the risk of developing  the illness was three times greater in those with the thinnest areas of the cerebral cortex area, which plays a key role in memory, compared with those who had above-average thickness. Those with most thinning of the brain also succumbed to the disease faster than people with average thickness, says a report in the medical journal Neurology.

Dr Dickerson said: ‘These are  preliminary results that are not ready to be applied outside of research  studies right now, but we are optimistic that this marker will be useful in the future.’

Other ways of detecting dementia in advance are under investigation, including an eye test and a combination of spinal fluid testing and scans to calculate the rate of brain shrinkage.

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK charity, said: ‘This adds to growing evidence that the changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease begin long before symptoms start to appear.

‘However, this is a small study and it needs to be expanded before we can be certain of the method’s accuracy in predicting Alzheimer’s.

‘The ability to detect Alzheimer’s in its earliest stages is crucial if we are to test new treatments with the groups of people who stand to benefit most.’

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