MRI testing may provide an accurate noninvasive surrogate for invasive tests to discriminate Alzheimer s disease from frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), new research suggests.
Despite being two distinct diseases, Alzheimer's and FTLD share similar clinical features and symptoms and can be hard to tell apart without invasive tests. Currently, a lumbar puncture a spinal tap is used to check levels of certain protein biomarkers in the fluid bathing the spinal column and brain, which tend to be higher in Alzheimer's than in FTLD.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania tried to determine if a non-invasive test, such as an MRI, could be used to predict Alzheimer s-related abnormalities and avoid the lumbar puncture. They analyzed MRI brain scans to see if scans alone could be used to predict brain protein levels, and found the density of gray matter on the MRI s did in fact correlate with the protein results. (The proteins previously shown to predict Alzheimer's are Tau and beta-amyloid).
The MRI prediction method was 75 percent accurate at identifying the Alzheimer's patients correctly, the group reported in the journal Neurology. And although this figure is not 100 percent accurate, it could still be a useful screening tool, say the researchers.
This is a step in the right direction for Alzheimer s prevention, says ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross. The key to developing an effective preventive or treatment for Alzheimer's is early detection if MRI screening can be used for determining early onset for Alzheimer s we have a better chance of developing a cure.
