VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a method for analysing MR images in just a few minutes when diagnosing Alzheimer's disease.
The accuracy of the analysis is comparable to manual measurements made by skilled professionals, currently considered the most reliable method for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease.
The accurate and rapid analysis method is well suited for clinical use.
Early detection of Alzheimer's requires that the patient displays some other symptom or sign of Alzheimer's in addition to memory problems.
These can include atrophy - the loss of brain cells - visible in MR images.
One of the first areas of the brain where atrophy can be detected is the hippocampus.
VTT's new method accurately and automatically calculates the volume of the hippocampus.
Currently, diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease often makes use of visual assessment of MR images.
Manual determination of brain structures in this way is a difficult task for the physician and the repeatability of results is typically poor.
This has led to a high demand for objective methods.
Earlier automatic systems for calculating the volume of the hippocampus are not in general clinical use because of deficiencies in speed and reliability.
Using VTT's new method, the assessment of MR images takes three minutes.
With the fastest currently available automatic MR image-assessment methods, the assessment takes 15 to 20 minutes.
However, it is not uncommon for assessments to last for several hours.
The new method is part of a system that is currently being developed under the EU PredictAD project to help diagnose Alzheimer's disease.
The system will be completed in 2011.
The aim of the project is to develop objective methods that are sufficiently accurate, reliable and fast for clinical use but that do not require large investment in equipment.
Other organisations involved in developing the new method include GE Healthcare (Uppsala, Sweden), Imperial College London (UK), University of Eastern Finland (Kuopio, Finland) and Rigshospitalet (Copenhagen, Denmark).
The method is currently being tested to guarantee its operational reliability.
