Research, Neuromed: ‘New technique for early Alzheimer’s diagnosis’

Rome, April 26 (beraking latest news Health) – Although considered a disease of old age, Alzheimer’s disease can affect relatively young people, under the age of 65. In these cases it becomes even more important to have an early diagnosis. With this aim, the Department of Medical Physics and Engineering of the Irccs Neuromed of Pozzilli (Is), in collaboration with the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Hust) of Wuhan, in China, and with the University of Rome Tor Vergata, has now developed a new technique for the automatic investigation of PET images (Positron Emission Tomography).

The new diagnostic method, published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, is based on the so-called “texture analysis”, the examination of the characteristics present in the various areas of an image. The team of researchers focused their attention on beta-amyloid (Aβ) plaques that accumulate in certain areas of the brain. The concentrations of this protein, considered typical of Alzheimer’s disease, can be highlighted by a normal Pet exam, whose images are traditionally examined by the expert eye of the nuclear doctor. Now a computerized examination has allowed researchers to define four main characteristics capable of automatically distinguishing early Alzheimer’s from what appears in old age.

“This new ability to analyze Pet images – says Nicola D’Ascenzo, professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Hust and head of the Department of Medical Physics and Neuromed Engineering – allows us to identify the typical characteristics of Alzheimer’s in relatively young people. . This may provide neurologists with an extra tool, a true marker of the disease, which will help them diagnose the disease more quickly in people under the age of 65, helping to distinguish it from other diseases that may have the same initial symptoms. And I would like to emphasize that in these patients early diagnosis is extremely essential for planning therapeutic interventions. ”The research was born in the context of an international project between Italy and China, funded by the foreign ministries of the two countries.