A special kind of MR imaging can be used for the job

Dec 23, 2013 14:56 GMT  ·  By

According to researchers from the Columbia University Medical Center, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be used to monitor and investigate the progression of Alzheimer's disease in the human brain, a capability that will make it easier for doctors to put together custom treatments for dementia patients. 

Additionally, fMRI scans can also determine the position in the brain where the disease originates, as well as the reason why that particular area is more prone to errors. By taking several scans over several months, doctors can now shed more light on how this type of neurodegenerative dementia spreads through the human brain, PsychCentral reports.

In a paper published in the latest online issue of the esteemed scientific journal Nature Neuroscience, the group says that this approach could be used for the early detection of Alzheimer's, a condition that tends to affect seniors, and which is expected to put a huge load on healthcare systems worldwide over the next few decades.

“Now that we’ve pinpointed where Alzheimer’s starts, and shown that those changes are observable using fMRI, we may be able to detect Alzheimer’s at its earliest preclinical stage, when the disease might be more treatable and before it spreads to other brain regions,” says CUMC co-senior study author, Scott A. Small, MD.