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Brain imaging


Dr. Kelch
Recent improvements in brain imaging technology have allowed physicians to see, in clear and precise detail, how the brain looks and functions. Many believe that this window on the living brain will continue to provide critical clues to the mystery of what happens to people with Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders. While structural scans like the CT scan and MRI are not new, researchers are constantly learning new ways to use these technologies to study Alzheimer's. These scans, along with new functional scans like the PET and SPECT, are improving diagnostic accuracy. They also continue to help us understand the disease’s progression and have become an important tool in the discovery of new treatments.

While a number of studies conducted at MADRC may require either an MRI or CT scan at the beginning of the study to evaluate health status, brain imaging studies usually require repeated imaging in order to assess the usefulness of a specific imaging methodology.

Researchers are now using brain scans to identify certain characteristic abnormalities in the brain that may signify that someone is more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or to be able to detect the earliest brain changes that could occur before other clear symptoms might be recognized. These abnormalities or biological markers have begun to allow physicians to make a positive diagnosis with ever-increasing accuracy. Some researchers also believe that structural and functional changes in the brain may be seen with imaging long before people experience clear symptoms of memory loss or other cognitive impairment. If researchers can identify such a window of opportunity for treatment, at or before the earliest onset of symptoms, the treatment ramifications could be significant.

Please consider joining one of the brain imaging studies currently underway:

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