Medical researchers have made significant gains in recent years in learning more about Alzheimer's disease. A new study is now showing how MRI scans can detect signs of the disease even earlier than PET scans. This is the latest on the study and where the research is now headed.

Study Could Offer Insight Into Earlier Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease

A recent study published in Nature Neuroscience found that MRI scans can detect Alzheimer's disease up to seven years earlier than more traditional methods, such as PET scans. The findings were published on August 19, suggesting that affected individuals may soon have a different way to arrive at an earlier diagnosis.  In short, the observations could move the earliest detectable brain-imaging signal for Alzheimer's much earlier.

The groundbreaking study found that while the presence of “amyloid-beta plaques at high enough levels” on PET scans is sufficient for a diagnosis for now, MRI scans have been shown to offer an earlier look at the changes in the thickness of the outer layer of the brain.

According to the National Library of Medicine, Alzheimer's disease affects over 7 million Americans over the age of 65. The findings of this study could prove to offer the potential of an earlier diagnosis, giving patients the chance to choose treatments that could delay the onset of the symptoms and progression of the disease.

“We found that structural changes in the brain occur many years before high levels of plaque are seen on PET scans, which is the brain scan currently used to identify the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease,” said lead study author James Michael Roe, a neuroscientist at the University of Oslo in Norway.

Details of the Groundbreaking Study

Researchers said that they looked at data from over 1,000 patients. None of the patients had reported signs of Alzheimer's or dementia when they enrolled in the study 16 years ago. All of the patients were subject to numerous MRI scans during the 16 years of observation. 700 of the participants also received amyloid-PET scans.

The scientists found that the MRI scans provided a more detailed account of what was happening in the brain compared to the PET scans. Some of the participants ended up presenting with enough amyloid accumulation to classify them as amyloid-positive on the PET scan. The researchers then looked at the MRI scans from the earlier years from the participants with positive PET scans, comparing the data progression with the participants who were amyloid-negative.

Although the researchers involved in the study are hopeful that the observations may offer the chance of an earlier diagnosis, they caution that further research is still needed. Study co-author Anders Martin Fjell explained that the MRI scans indicated that the first noticeable signs of beta-amyloid buildup are not actually the first marker of Alzheimer’s.

The neuroscientist at the University of Oslo told Smithsonian Magazine that “other processes in the brain start before beta-amyloid begins to cluster.” Fjell went on to explain that “If the latter is true, it suggests it is important to continue developing drugs that target processes other than amyloid plaque accumulation. But we need more research on this.”

An earlier diagnosis may mean that a patient can start on some of the FDA-approved Alzheimer's treatments that are engineered specifically for patients with early symptoms. Most early symptomatic Alzheimer's patients present with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia. Although the treatments do not cure the disease or reverse existing damage, the drugs can slow the progression.

Early diagnosis also helps to differentiate Alzheimer's disease from other types of memory issues. Knowing exactly what you are dealing with helps medical providers to make the best treatment decisions.

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