Healthy living
Mind matters
One minute test for brain disease
New research could lead to a quick, reliable test for conditions such dementia that affect the brain
Diagnosing the onset of brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia has until now involved lengthy and uncertain studies of patients' behaviour.
Unlike conditions affecting other parts of our bodies, such as diabetes or heart disease, which can be diagnosed by specific physical tests such as blood tests or electrocardiogram, physicians have had to rely on conversations, memory tests and sometimes brain scans.
New research led by Professor Apostolos P Georgopoulos at the University of Minnesota Medical School may change this. His team of physicists has been studying the magnetic charges released when clusters of nerve cells in the brain ‘couple’, using a non-invasive process called Magnetoencephalography (MEG).
By comparing the patterns of the tiny magnetic charges in healthy brains with those in people with diseases such as Alzheimer’s, the researchers were able to identify patterns associated with diseases of the brain.
The team examined 141 volunteers using tests lasting 45-60 seconds, and were correct in their diagnosis of the illnesses in all of them. They then tested another 52 patients and were right in 90 per cent of cases.
"We want to continue and acquire a data from a large number of subjects – patients and matched controls", says Professor Georgopolous. "The throughput of this MEG test is large so we can continue a high rate of testing and we hope that clinical applications can become a reality in a year or two."
"This initial study indicates that this new technique may have great potential for diagnosing people with Alzheimer's disease," says Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society.
"An early diagnostic test for Alzheimer's is essential if we are to fight this devastating disease with better treatments and early interventions. However, this technique is a long way from becoming a reality for people with dementia in the UK, and more research is needed on a larger number of patients before we will know its true value. We urgently need to invest more in dementia research if we are to ultimately defeat dementia."
The research will be published in the Institute of Physics’ Journal of Neural Engineering, at the end of August.
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Information on this site is for interest only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should consult your own doctor about any specific health concerns.
