Alzheimer’s disease can be predicted a decade before symptoms become obvious

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is usually diagnosed too late to utilize measures that would slow down the degenerative process. But an old tool, used in a new way, may change all that.

Scientists in the brain research laboratories at New York University School of Medicine have applied a computer analysis technique to electroencephalogram (EEG) tests that they say can accurately predict AD a decade before symptoms become obvious. An EEG measures electrical activity in the brain.

In a study published in Neurobiology of Aging, the NYU team evaluated more than 40 people over the age of 64 who reported mild signs of cognitive decline. At the outset of the study, EEG tests showed normal brain activity for all. Over the next nine years, subjects were monitored with additional EEGs. Nearly 30 subjects eventually developed some level of cognitive impairment. Several were diagnosed with dementia.

In the earliest EEG results, researchers were able to identify brain wave patterns that predicted dementia and Alzheimer’s with more than 90 percent accuracy.

EEGs can easily be conducted in a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital and the procedure only takes about half an hour. The NYU researchers plan further studies of their EEG technique, which they hope will eventually become a standard test in routine physical exams for older patients.

Sources:
“Test May Spot Alzheimer’s in Early Stages” Jennifer Warner, WebMD, 10/5/05, my.webmd.com