Italian researchers have conceived a new test for Alzheimer's Disease and other brain conditions that lead to dementia in the elderly.
The test, illustrated in the latest edition of the international journal NeuroImage, uses an available technology, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), in a new way.
Vincenzo Di Lazzaro of Rome's Catholic University said his team had used TMS for the first time to identify a common neurodegenerative condition, Lewy Body Dementia, in a living brain.
"In the past you were only able to tell if a patient had this condition by a post-mortem examination of the brain," Di Lazzaro said on the eve of the 15th World Alzheimer Day.
"This holds out hope of diagnosing Alzheimer's and other types of senile dementia earlier, and hopefully improving treatment," Di Lazzaro said.
"With TMS we stimulate specific circuits in the brain and can thus achieve a more precise diagnosis.
"Conventional neuroimaging techniques, such as CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans, only provide a structural evaluation of the brain.
"With our new test, by contrast, we are able to detect the functional anomalies that the disease has caused in the brain".
