Recently, researchers from Britain, Australia and the US have developed a technique which according to them, can predict who is likely to contract the disease up to a decade even when symptoms have not occurred yet.
Dementia is a loss of brain function that occurs with certain diseases. Among them, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia and gradually get worse over time. But recently, researchers from Britain, Australia and the US have developed a technique which according to them, can predict who is likely to contract the disease up to a decade even when symptoms have not occurred yet.
The new technique employs positron emission tomography (PET) scans to monitor the build up of the protein Amyloid-beta which is known to be connected to dementia and cognitive decline.
They use the machine to monitor the build up of the protein Amyloid-beta which is known to be connected to dementia and cognitive decline. Scientists think that the protein Amyloid-beta is the cause of tangling in the brain, effectively silting it up and blocking normal thought processes.
The researches were conducted on hundreds of volunteers including healthy people and those who had mild cognitive impairment. They were tested psychology and neurology via a battery many times. Then they got their brains scanned regularly and were given memory and cognition tests for a number of years.
The findings reveal that people with high build up of plaques earlier on were more likely to develop memory problems and Alzheimer’s Disease.
As for scientists, these scans are hoped to help them with diagnosis and to provide a picture of what is happening in the brain during disease. And as for suffers, they will have time to make preparations for its devastating effects and could eventually lead to early treatments and even a cure.