Historic Step to Detecting Alzheimer’s Early

A British company developed the world’s first brain scanning technique, analysing MRI scans to identify signs of Alzheimer’s disease years before symptoms appear, giving hope to millions of people concerned about dementia.

“Our sophisticated diffusion analysis is based on a deep understanding of neuropathology, and the correlations between microscopic brain data and MRI analysis,” as per a statement from Oxford Brain Diagnostics, the company that developed the novel technique.

The new “precision diagnostic tool” called cortical disarray measurement (CDM) analyzes MRI scans – data is from both 1.5T and 3T scanners – allows doctors to pinpoint subtle signs of neurodegeneration and spot disruptions in the structure and function of the cortex, mainly those associated with memory, decision-making, and language. CDM is a cloud native, non-invasive, all-in-one solution that monitors brain changes and delivers outputs in images and numerical values, the latter as percentiles of a normative population distribution. Over in the United States at Mass General Brigham, researchers developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool capable of analysing subtle changes in brain activity during sleep using electroencephalography, thus predicting brain decline in patients, years in advance. One of their studies revealed that the AI tool correctly flagged 85% of individuals who eventually experienced cognitive decline.