Currently, the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is essentially based on various clinical and neuropsychological examinations supplemented by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This clinical screening is often carried out late and therefore has limited effectiveness in terms of treatment and especially of care. Thus, it is estimated that in France nearly one out of two patients would not be detected in time.
One of the ways envisaged to improve diagnosis at an early stage of the disease is the detection of atrophy (decrease in volume) of the hippocampus by MRI. However, currently, this detection is practically never carried out clinically because it is very long and delicate. The development of image processing software that automatically measures the volume of the hippocampus by researchers at the Laboratory of Cognitive Neurosciences and Brain Imaging should soon facilitate the work of radiologists. Indeed, this tool makes possible, from an MRI, the three-dimensional reconstruction of cerebral structures and the calculation of their volume. Thus, a radiologist can in a few minutes obtain the volume of the hippocampus of a patient, compare it with values of healthy people of the same age and thus detect a possible atrophy of the hippocampus.
During a study carried out in collaboration with medical teams from Inserm at the Salpêtrière Hospital (Paris) and at the University Hospital of Caen3, the researchers used this new software to measure the volumes of the hippocampus of a group of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and a group of healthy elderly individuals. The results provided allow to successfully distinguish patients with Alzheimer’s disease (diagnosed in parallel with existing methods). This software should enable earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and better care for patients.
