SOFTWARE that can interpret brain scans to 鈥渞ead people鈥檚 minds鈥� could help those developing common forms of dementia get better treatment.
Dementia can be diagnosed through verbal tests of cognitive skills and memory, but these cannot distinguish reliably between different forms of the condition at an early stage. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans of the brain allow more accurate diagnosis, but only an expert can interpret them.
The new software is designed to help non-specialists diagnose dementia from PET scans. 鈥淎 novice supported by this system should perform at a similar level to an expert,鈥� says Ralph Buchert of the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany.
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鈥淎 novice supported by this system should perform at a similar level to an expert鈥�
The software helps to diagnose different types of dementia by comparing a scan of activity levels in a patient鈥檚 brain 鈥� revealed by the rate at which the brain takes up a radioactive glucose substitute that shows up on the scan 鈥� with a database of previous cases. For example, people with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease tend to show less activity than normal in the parieto-temporal, precuneus and posterior cingulate regions of the brain, while those with so-called Lewy body dementia also have reduced activity in the occipital region. Fronto-temporal dementia is associated with lower than normal activity in the frontal and temporal regions.
The software, developed with funding from the electronics company Philips, adjusts the scale of a patient鈥檚 brain scan to fit a standard template and compares the patient鈥檚 brain activity with that of healthy people and those with dementia. The results of a trial presented to the Turku PET Symposium in Finland in May found that the system interpreted scans from 83 patients with 98 per cent accuracy.
Further trials are planned, but the system may not come into its own until there are better treatments for dementia, says Clive Ballard, director of research at the Alzheimer鈥檚 Society. 鈥淚n five to 10 years, when we have better drugs, it will become increasingly important to diagnose people before they have clinical symptoms,鈥� he says. 鈥淢aybe this sort of technique will become more valuable then.鈥�
Other researchers are now developing similar software to diagnose lung cancer and optic nerve problems from CT and MRI scans respectively.
