Brain scans may predict future Alzheimer’s patients

April 7th, 2011 - 12:01 am ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt  

New York, April 6 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Scientists say a brain scan on people with mild decline in mental abilities may predict who would go ahead to develop Alzheimer’s disease. The study is expected to be published in the journal Radiology in June.

The researchers restricted their study on people with mild cognitive impairment. The condition has been found to have a link with Alzheimer’s disease. About 15 to 20 percent with the condition go ahead to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

The researchers studied their subjects using MRI. The subjects of the research included 203 healthy adults, 317 patients with mild cognitive impairment and 164 Alzheimer’s disease patients. The scientists scanned the brain activities of the subjects and compared them. The scientists first compared the images produced by the Alzheimer’s disease patients with that of the healthy adults. The scientists identified the major differences that exist between the brain images between the two groups.

After comparing the brain images of those with mild cognitive impairment with those of the Alzheimer’s disease, the scientists were able to draw a pattern that show who was most likely to develop the disease.

The study researcher Linda K. McEvoy of University of California’s San Diego School of Medicine said that, “Currently there’s no cure or prevention for Alzheimer’s disease. But there’s a lot of research going on right now into different potential therapies. If any of those therapies turn out to be useful, then this kind of information will be crucial — a doctor needs to know who’s at higher risk in order to treat them”.

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