What if a machine could analyze the brain from every angle and thus detect neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s? At the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, we firmly believe in this prospect. The reason for this enthusiasm: the establishment’s acquisition of cutting-edge technology in the detection of brain lesions linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
The machine, which combines two imaging techniques, positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), makes it possible to visualize the composition of brain tissue and also to monitor brain function in different aspects. such as oxygenation and cell proliferation.
The device, designed by General Electric Health Care, would thus make it possible to identify lesions in the brain at an early stage and to study their progression. Stated objective: to better identify patients at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, because the symptoms of the disease (memory loss, mood swings, confusion) generally appear long after the appearance of the first lesions. “We can see senile plaques very early, especially in the case of early Alzheimer’s disease.“, explains to France Inter Professor Aurélie Kas, head of the nuclear medicine department at Pitié-Salpêtrière.
A new PET-MRI platform at the La… by aphp-official
Detect and treat in the long term
Alzheimer’s disease is not the only pathology targeted by this device. This should be able to to screen further upstream patients at risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and the multiple sclerosis. The PET/MRI machine should also make it possible to measure the effectiveness of experimental drug treatments on brain lesions.
Source : A new PET-MRI unit at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospitalOctober 21, 2015
>> To read also: Misconception: we only use 10% of our brain
Alzheimer’s disease: palpation of the brain, soon a diagnostic tool
