Search is Powered by Google
Follow us on:
Follow our health news on Twitter
Follow Our News on Facebook
Personalization
login | register
Alzheimer's / Dementia News

Innovative Brain Scanning For Alzheimer's Screening Unveiled

Main Category: Alzheimer's / Dementia
Also Included In: MRI / PET / Ultrasound
Article Date: 24 Jan 2008 - 0:00 PDT

email icon email to a friend   printer icon printer friendly   write icon view / write opinions


Current Article Ratings:

Patient / Public:5 stars

4.67 (3 votes)

Health Professional:5 stars

5 (3 votes)

Article Opinions: 0 posts

Researchers at the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging are launching an Alzheimer's screening clinical trial with Neuronetrix's innovative brain scanning system, called COGNISION(TM). The study will involve brainwave assessments using a technology called event-related potentials (ERP's). The study is expected to validate the performance of the COGNISION(TM) system and to demonstrate the system's applicability in a primary care setting. Up to 100 Alzheimer sufferers and controls will participate over the next 6-12 months.

During the study patients will wear a sophisticated electronic headset which will record brain activity in response to an auditory stimulus. The process is similar to hearing screening tests performed on newborn infants throughout the country. The data is then uploaded to an online database where a powerful pattern recognition engine will correlate the ERP tests with known brainwave patterns.

The COGNISION(TM) test is expected to be the first approved Alzheimer's disease screening test which directly evaluates a patient's cognitive performance. "We are not looking at a surrogate biomarker which may or may not correlate with Alzheimer's. Instead, we are directly measuring the cognitive deficits caused by the disease," says K.C. Fadem, co-founder of Neuronetrix.

It is generally believed that the drugs used to treat Alzheimer's, such as market leader Aricept(R) from Pfizer, are most effective early in the disease process. Because of this, a national focus has been placed on the importance of Alzheimer's screening to determine optimum treatment paths in the early stage of the disease. At least one organization of medical experts, the AD Screening Discussion Group, has advocated that Alzheimer's disease screenings become a routine part of the application for Medicare.

Alzheimer's disease affects about 5 million Americans with 500,000 new cases reported each year. This number is expected to grow to 16 million by 2050. The CDC recently reported that Alzheimer's disease moved up to 7th place from 8th place among the leading causes of death in 2004, passing influenza and pneumonia.

The Sanders-Brown Center at the University of Kentucky is one of only 32 Alzheimer's Centers of Excellence in the country. Neuronetrix is planning a follow on study to evaluate the COGNISION(TM) System on a commercial scale that will be performed at other Alzheimer's Centers of Excellence including the University of Pennsylvania and Indiana University.

For more information, go to http://www.neuronetrix.com

Neuronetrix, Inc.
http://www.neuronetrix.com




Personalized Homepage Weekly Newsletters Daily News Alerts
Hemophilia Opioid Induced Constipation Pneumococcal Disease ADHD Anxiety Asthma Atrial Fibrillation Autism Cancer Diabetes Lung Cancer Lupus Medicare / Medicaid Obesity and BMI Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cells All 'What Is...' Articles

Ophthalmology Urology
About Us News Licensing Free Website Feeds Free Tools & Content Tell a Friend Accessibility Help / FAQ Article Submission Links Contact Us

add medical news today to your facebook
medical news gadget

Haiti Appeal

Haiti Appeal Image
The severe earthquake that struck Haiti has inflicted damage and devastation on a massive scale. Please donate to the Doctors Without Borders Haiti Appeal.

PLEASE DONATE HERE


These are the most read articles from this news category for the last 6 months:
Top Article Star
Long-Held Theory About Biological Clocks Overturned By U-M Discovery
09 Oct 2009
University of Michigan mathematicians and their British colleagues say they have identified the signal that the brain sends to the rest of the body to control biological rhythms, a finding that overturns a long-held theory about our internal clock...


The Role of a Caregiver image The Role of a Caregiver

When a frail or chronically ill loved one can no longer care for him or herself the issue confronting families is what to do about care. Learn what you need to think about first...

Using Creativity to Combat Alzheimer's image Using Creativity to Combat Alzheimer's

Learn how the introduction of a new activity changed the lives of an Alzheimer's patient and her caregiver...

View more videos...