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Brain scans to detect Alzheimer's decades
ahead
Thursday July 12, 2012 05:58:29 PM,
IANS
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London: Experts hope
to develop brain scans to detect early symptoms of dementia that
may surface 25 years before patients and their families notice any
outward development.
Scientists believe that sufferers' brains and spines undergo
miniscule changes when they are in their 30s and 40s.
An US study involved 128 people whose parents had an inherited
form of Alzheimer's, meaning they were highly likely to get the
disease themselves. Scientists carried out brain scans and tests
on the fluid in their spine, the New England Journal of Medicine
reports.
They noticed that some people underwent changes in the spinal
fluid 25 years before they were likely to notice the first
symptoms of Alzheimer's. They also spotted certain deposits in
their brains - or 'plaques' - that showed up 15 years sooner than
memory loss or confusion were expected to appear.
The researchers based the 25-year figure on the assumption that
each person would begin showing signs of the illness at roughly
the same age as their parents, according to the Daily Mail.
Experts point out that this inherited form of Alzheimer's - which
is responsible for less than one percent of all cases - is
different from the normal form of the disease.
Randall Bateman from Washington University School of Medicine in
St. Louis said: "A series of changes begins in the brain decades
before the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are noticed by patients
or families, and this cascade of events may provide a timeline for
symptomatic onset."
"As we learn more about the origins of Alzheimer's to plan
preventive treatments, this timeline will be invaluable for
successful drug trials," added Bateman.
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