A team of researchers from the Center for Biomedical Technology of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain) has found a new and effective biomarker for an early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: magnetoencephalography .
Neuropsychological tests, the study of brain gray matter volume using neuroimaging techniques and magnetoencephalography have proven to be very effective for the diagnosis and evolution of patients suffering from this neurodegenerative disease , the researchers explain in the Journal of Neuroscience .
Although there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, many studies suggest that if it is detected in very early stages, it is possible to slow its progression . Thus, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), one of the first symptoms, was the starting point of this research. The experts compared brain activity, the volume of certain brain areas and the results of various neuropsychological tests of 19 patients with mild cognitive impairment who would later develop Alzheimer’s and 30 patients also with mild cognitive impairment but who did not end up suffering from the disease.
The differences between both groups resided in the volume of the entorhinal cortex (associated with memory) and in the results of neuropsychological tests (memory and executive function). The combination of the results made it possible to distinguish with 90% precision those patients who developed Alzheimer’s and those who did not, showing that in the early stages of the disease, patients show differences both in their brain activity and in neuropsychological tests.
“Our work indicates that magnetoencephalography is a potential biomarker to determine the probability of evolution to AD in patients diagnosed as MCI, which could allow the initiation of a potential palliative treatment in the initial stages of the disease “, explains María Eugenia López to Sinc , co-author of the study.
