New Study Evaluates Imaging Tool to Screen for Alzheimer’s
The Neuronetrix’s brain scanning system, COGNISION, is being evaluated by researchers at the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging as a tool for Alzheimer’s screening. The Sanders-Brown Center is one of only 32 Alzheimer’s Centers of Excellence in the U.S. Announcement of the planned trial was on the Neuronetrix website.
Approximately 100 elderly patients who are suspected of having Alzheimer’s disease will be recruited to participate in the trial along with their caregivers during the next six to twelve months. The primary endpoint of the study is to assess the utility of the COGNISION in identifying patients who have Alzheimer’s disease. An additional endpoint is the practicality of using the tool in the primary care setting.
The planned clinical trial will incorporate assessment of brainwaves through event-related potentials (ERPs). Subjects are required to wear a sophisticated electronic headset that records brain activity as it is exposed to auditory stimulus. Data collected will then be uploaded to an online database that includes a powerful pattern recognition engine. That tool correlates individual ERP tests with known brainwave patterns.
The unique device directly measures cognitive deficits that result from Alzheimer’s disease. Information from Neuronetrix suggest that the COGNISION may be the first device approved by the FDA that screen patients directly for this cognitive disease rather considering surrogate markers of deficits.
January 30, 2008 Related topics: New Technology & Innovation, Diagnostic, Psychiatry & Neurology