AI Plays Its Role to Better Diagnose (and Treat) Dementia

Scientists use artificial intelligence to analyze 1.6 million brain scans to predict dementia risk.

“Better use of simple brain scans to predict dementia will lead to a better understanding of dementia and potentially earlier diagnosis of its causes, which in turn will make [the] development of new treatments easier,” says the project co-leader, Professor Will Whitekey.

Scotland researchers at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Dundee will work alongside AI to find patterns that may eventually help determine at-risk individuals. This work comes at an essential time, as the number of people living with dementia worldwide is expected to triple by 2050 to 153 million individuals. Once this new data set is complete, researchers are expected to be able to use the information to develop more precise treatments for the neurological illness affecting hundreds of millions.