A new technique to detect early signs of Alzheimers disease in healthy people
Contact: Pamela McDonnell Pamela.McDonnellmed.nyu.edu 212-404-3555 New York University Medical Center and School of Medicine neuroscientist would be happy to reliably identify changes in brain structure and metabolism associated with Alzheimers disease early - before symptoms occur. Such information could buy valuable time and may allow potential therapies to delay or even prevent memory-robbing disease. Now a new study by researchers at New York University School of Medicine brings this goal one step closer to reality.Using a new technique to measure brain volume, may in healthy subjects, who would later develop memory problems are a symptom associated with an increased risk of Alzheimers future. The study is published in the December issue of the journal Radiology
published. In the small study led by Henry Rusinek, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Radiology at the NYU School of Medicine, led the researchers used fMRI to measure and a formula for a brain region called the medial temporal lobe for a period of two years.This area contains the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex, key structures related to learning and memory. The researchers found that every year, this brain region is much reduced more among people who developed memory problems than those who did not. The temporal lobe is about 30 cubic centimeters - the equivalent of one sixth of a cup - of brain matter in each hemisphere of the brain. With our results, we now know that normal, healthy brain undergoes a predictable shrinkage that can be used to help identify Alzheimers
disease for several years before clinical symptoms appear, said Dr.Rusinek.We believe this is the first MRI to these results in healthy people report, but it is the first demonstration that extremely early diagnosis is possible, and the technique still requires additional work before it is ready for the clinic, he added. The technique was about 90 percent accurate, it correctly predicted cognitive decline in nine out
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