New Method to Detect Alzheimer's Could Identify Disease 10 Years Before Onset of Symptoms

Hong Kong scientists claim that a new method for detecting early-stage Alzheimer's disease could spot the disorder up to 10 years before symptoms manifest, reports the South China Morning Post . The team used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to track glucose injected into the brains of mice, which indicated Alzheimer's with a slow rate of absorption and processing. In mice with Alzheimer's, the processing of glucose in the glymphatic system was substantially slower than in healthy mice. Human trials would involve subjects undergoing MRIs, then receiving glucose and being rescanned to trace the changes in the brain. The new protocol does not have any side effects, uses widely available MRI scanners, and would cost half as much as positron emission tomography scans. "If any test can allow the detection 10 to 20 years before, we could intervene much earlier, which would make a huge difference in the efficacy of therapy," said City University of Hong Kong Professor Kannie Chan Wai-yan.