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New Approach Helps Distinguish Alzheimers From Other Varieties of Dementia March 31, 2008, New York The use of a brain imaging method that measures sugar metabolism inside a vital region of the brain could play an critical function in the early diagnosis of Alzheimers illness and other dementias. According to Dr. Lisa Mosconi and her colleague Mony De Leon, both of New York Universitys Center for Brain Well being, the imaging technique has 94% accuracy in distinguishing Alzheimer's disease from other dementias. It was also able to identify brain patterns associated with quite early cognitive decline. Due to the fact the incidence of (Alzheimer's and related disorders) is expected to boost substantially as the infant boomer generation ages, accurate diagnosis is incredibly important, specifically at the early and mild stages of dementia when life style alterations and therapeutic interventions would be most productive, Mosconi says.  [http://www.prattmed.com/our-services/ob-gyn.aspx worth reading]  Mosconi and De Leon developed the brain scan-based computer plan immediately after identifying important alterations early in the program of Alzheimer's disease in the part of the brain known as the hippocampus. They found that the hippocampus, which is linked with understanding and memory, metabolizes glucose much less efficiently as dementia progresses. Glucose is required for the suitable functioning of the brain.  [http://www.prattmed.com/ consumers]  With the use of positron emission tomography (PET), the researchers had been able to concentrate on the glucose consumption patterns inside the hippocampus. They had been also capable to identify particular pictures related with standard brain function, mild cognitive impairment, and different sorts of dementia including Alzheimers.  [http://www.prattmed.com/our-services/pediatrics.aspx company web site]  The study that appeared in the March problem of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine included 548 folks examined separately at seven various study centers. The participants, who had been largely in their 60s and 70s, confirmed by means of a battery of neurological and psychological tests that they had no evidence of cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's illness, or dementia due to other causes. The patients had been injected with the radioactive isotope FDG, which mimicked glucose when it entered the physique. After about 30 minutes, researchers started taking pictures of the brain using PET imaging, and the images had been later analyzed making use of the computer program developed at NYU. Comparison of pictures of the cerebral cortex at the brain's surface to those of the hippocampus deep within the brain allowed researchers to accurately distinguish amongst patients with normal brain function and those with particular dementias, such as Alzheimer's. The technique could also predict which variety of dementia a person with mild cognitive impairment would have in the future. Mosconi and colleagues are now in the method of evaluating comply with-up information to determine the accuracy of the imaging method at predicting their clinical course. Their next step is to bring the imaging method outdoors the clinical trials setting. According to Dr. Sandy McEwan, president of the Society for Nuclear Medicine, the NYU analysis represents a potentially seminal advance in the use of imaging for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's and other dementias. Since the imaging was carried out at diverse analysis centers within the United States and Europe, theres a possibility that the approach is reproducible in the clinical setting.