The Onset of Alzheimer's To Be Predicted 10 Years Ahead

According to researchers, Alzheimer's disease could be predicted a decade before the onset. A study on Alzheimer's disease, conducted by US researchers at Rush University Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital, showed that areas of the brain begin to shrink years before the disease is actually diagnosed. The results of the study were published in the Neurology journal. All 65 elderly adults who took part in the research had healthy cognitive function to start with.

Over the course of 10 years, some of them developed Alzheimer's. The researchers started by measuring the thickness of the cortex in 8 brain areas normally affected by Alzheimer's, using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology. The 65 patients were then monitored for the duration of approximately ten years after the tests. 55% of the 11 people who had the lowest cortex thickness in the sensitive areas ended up developing Alzheimer's, while none of the 9 patients with the highest thickness got the degenerative disease. Among those with medium thickness of the cortex, 20% developed Alzheimer's.

These results confirm that the onset of Alzheimer's disease is progressive, as the first signs appear long before there is enough evidence to make a diagnosis. This means that brain atrophy begins to take place before any of the cognitive functions are impaired. The new discovery could mean a breakthrough in finding an appropriate treatment for Alzheimer's disease, by making an early diagnosis possible. To fight Alzheimer's with real chances of success, it would be necessary for the treatment to start at least in the early stages of the disease. However, according to the researchers themselves and because of the low number of participants in the study, the findings need further confirmation, with data gathered from a greater number of subjects. If the results are proven correct by further research, a simple brain scan could predict if someone is in danger of getting the incurable disease.

On this basis, a treatment could be developed to prevent it or at least delay the onset. Alzheimer's disease is one of the most ruthless in the world. This form of senile dementia affects the brain progressively, until the person is left unable to perform even the simplest cognitive tasks. In most cases, the disease is diagnosed in people over the age of 65. As of yet, there is no known cure for Alzheimer's disease.

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