New tool lets you diagnose dementia with just one scan

Thanks to artificial intelligence, scientists can already say that it is possible to diagnose dementia with just one battery of brain imaging tests and in just one day. In preclinical tests, a new AI-based system has been shown to detect signs of disease years before symptoms appear. This is made possible by comparing the brain patterns of people who may have the disease to those presented by patients. The system then took its reading and set a new ruler by which to tell if an individual would develop dementia. “Currently, it takes several tests to diagnose it, and when it is completed, it may be too late for us to mitigate its effects,” say researchers at the Alan Turing Institute in Cambridge, England.

Now, to find out the new system’s effectiveness in patients, tests will be carried out on about 500 people who suspect they have or fear developing the disease at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, and other clinics that treat memory problems. in the UK . Zoe Cortzy, professor of computational cognitive neuroscience at the Alan Turing Institute and professor of experimental psychology at the University of Cambridge, said the results of these individuals would also be communicated, if needed, to their doctors. “The sooner we intervene, the sooner we can start treatment, slowing the progression of the disease and, at the same time, preventing further damage. Thus, it is more likely that symptoms will occur very late in a person’s life or may not develop at all.”

Consultant neurologist Timothy Reitman of the University of Cambridge agrees. “This system is a wonderful invention because it is a really devastating disease,” he says. “It is important to give individuals more information about the possible development of the disease and thus help them plan their lives,” he adds.