Memory loss and confusion are signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
In a new study, researchers have developed new methods to help medical science get to the bottom of this insidious disease.
The research was conducted by a team at Leiden University.
According to the team, distinguishing Alzheimer’s disease from other forms of dementia is not easy.
This is because at an early-stage Alzheimer’s disease has all sorts of similarities with other forms of dementia.
Doctors want to distinguish between these at as early a stage as possible, and this diagnosis is also useful if they want to try out new treatments.
The disease process in the brain begins 10 to 15 years before symptoms such as forgetfulness become apparent. And treatment may have a much greater effect if you begin years earlier.
A scan diagnosis is not available yet, but now researchers can see differences between brain scans of Alzheimer’s patients and healthy test participants.
The technique that the team uses to visualize the brain does so by looking at brain activity. The blood flowing through active brain regions is more oxygenated and the scanner can register this.
This data can be used to make colored images of cross-sections of the brain with some areas in red or green. The colors in themselves do not mean much. It’s more of a way to clearly visualize the data.
In the past, volunteers were asked to carry out a task in the scanner, but nowadays they simply have to lie still on their backs.
All sorts of activity can already be seen on the scans because the brain is never at rest but is always full of thoughts, plans, and memories.
The brain uses 20% of our total energy when we are at rest. That busy traffic between brain regions can also be seen in a scan.
The researchers hope that a gradual change in spontaneous brain patterns will be of use in Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
The hope is that artificial intelligence will play a part in this. Powerful computers can compare thousands of brain scans and perhaps make new links that people are unable to see.
The researchers of the study include physicists Serge Rombouts and Martina Huber.
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