Brain Scans may Predict Symptoms of Alzheimer's Years before they Appear

A recent study shows how brain scans may be helpful in predicting the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease even a decade before the disease occurs in the children whose parents have dementia. 

Research shows that the brain scans of those who do not have dementia but have two parents with Alzheimer's disease may exhibit signs of the health issues even years before symptoms appear.

"Studies show that by the time people come in for a diagnosis, there may be a large amount of irreversible brain damage already present," lead researcher Lisa Mosconi, PhD, with the New York University School of Medicine in New York said, via a press release. "This is why it is ideal that we find signs of the disease in high-risk people before symptoms occur."

For the study, researchers examined 52 individuals between the ages of 32 and 72 who did not have dementia. Participants underwent several kinds of brain scans that included Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans.

PET scans work to measure the amount of brain plaques and overall amount of activity going on inside the organ. Yet MRI scans show the brain's structure and reduction in volume.

Findings revealed that those with both parents who had Alzheimer's disease were more likely to have severe abnormalities in brain volume and metabolism. They also showed five to 10 percent more brain plaques in some regions of the organ compared to their counterparts.

However, researchers note that those whose mother had Alzheimer's disease were more likely to carry disease biomarkers in their brains than those with fathers who had the health issue, making them more likely to develop the health issues than those who had fathers with Alzheimer's disease.

"Our study also suggests that there might be genes that predispose individuals to develop brain Alzheimer's pathology as a function of whether one parent or both parents have the disease," Mosconi said, via ahte release. "We do not yet know which genes, if any, are responsible for these early changes, and we hope that our study will be helpful to future genetic investigations."

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More information regarding the study can be seen via the journal Neurology.