A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique could detect signs of cognitive decline long before symptoms appear.
Dementia affects over 35 million people across the globe, and that number is expected to double by the year 2030, the Radiological Society of North America reported. Early detection of this condition is extremely important because treatment is most effective at this stage.
New research suggests arterial spin labeling (ASL), could help measure the penetration of blood into the tissue, predicting a decline in future cognitive function.
"ASL MRI is simple to perform, doesn't require special equipment and only adds a few minutes to the exam," said study author Sven Haller, M.D., from the University of Geneva in Geneva, Switzerland.
To make their findings the researchers looked at 148 healthy elderly participants and 65 who were already experiencing mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Out of the healthy individuals, 75 remained stable and 73 deteriorated cognitively at an 18 months clinical follow-up.
The researchers noticed the patients who deteriorated showed a reduced perfusion at their baseline ASL MRI exams, epecially in the default mode network which is active when the brain is not focusing on tasks.
"There is a known close link between neural activity and brain perfusion in the posterior cingulate cortex," Dr. Haller said. "Less perfusion indicates decreased neural activity."
The findings suggest individuals with decreased perfusion detected with ASL MRI are likely to develop Alzheimer's or dementia down the road.
Previous research on this subject has been done with positron emission tomography (PET). These findings have shown patients with Alzheimer's disease had reduced metabolism in the same area of the brain where the perfusion abnormalities were found to indicate future mental decline.
"ASL might replace the classic yet unspecific fluordesoxyglucose PET that measures brain metabolism. Instead, PET could be done with the new and specific amyloid PET tracers," Dr. Haller said.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Radiology.
