New tool to detect dementia

The team hope to improve treatment

A team of scientists in Glasgow say they have made an important step forward in fighting Alzheimer's disease.

Through a new device they can detect the onset of progressive diseases of the central nervous system, like dementia causing Alzheimer's, long before even the patient notices any symptoms.

Dementia slowly robs sufferers of their mental faculties and can initially be difficult for doctors to diagnose, which often means treatment starts too late.

Ethel Low: "My memory is not as good as it should be"

But researchers at Diagnostic Potentials, a Clydebank-based company, are confident they have found the answer to early detection.

They have developed a device, resembling a hairnet, which tests people's memories and which could lead to treatment programmes being put in place much sooner.

Their invention has 128 small pads which monitor electrical activity from every part of the brain.

The subject is then asked to recall whether the words a computer gives them are new or have been repeated.

The results are analysed and compared with the reactions of a completely healthy person.

'Expensive disease'

If there is deterioration, doctors would then be able to diagnose dementia before the symptoms.

Diagnostic Potentials believes that being able to assess diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease is important because they account for more than 15% of the global costs of disease.

Dr Kerry Kilborn, from the Glasgow unit, said: "The test is not about testing whether a person can remember the name of their grandmother's birthday.

I am not capable of remembering all the things I should remember and do all the things I should do - I can't do them

Ethel Low, Alzheimer's sufferer

"We have put together the test based on responses to stimuli given at three minute and 10 minute intervals."

The company says that costs of more than $100bn per annum make Alzheimer's the third most expensive disease in the US.

The firm's website said: "Advances in drug treatments are creating opportunities to reduce the suffering and cost associated with central nervous system disorders.

"The key to exploiting these opportunities, both for clinical care providers and for drug companies, is early and accurate diagnosis."

Ninety-year-old Ethel Low, who has Alzheimer's and lives with her daughter, said: "In myself my body and my brain are fine, but I am reaching the stage where I am not capable of remembering all the things I should remember and do all the things I should do - I can't do them."