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Faster MRI scans could help end “postcode lottery” dementia diagnosis by cutting costs and making Scans are more widely availableA study has suggested.
brain scan helps diagnose dementia as well as memory tests and blood tests, but because MRI scans are expensive, very few patients are offered them.
on researchers University College London (UCL) has developed a method running a brain scan To achieve the same results in a third of the time – potentially doubling the number of dementia scans performed in a day and reducing costs.
Richard Oakley, associate director of research and innovation at the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Although MRIs are not the only way to diagnose dementia, very few people with concerns about their cognitive health are offered them as part of the diagnostic process, mainly because they are expensive and not widely available.
“These faster MRIs, which take less than half the time of standard scans, could help end this postcode lottery in dementia diagnosis, cutting costs and potentially giving more people access to them.”
It is estimated that 982,000 people in the UK currently suffer from dementia, but more than a third of people with the condition do not have a diagnosis. One in four people have to wait up to two years before getting help and starting medication for dementia symptoms.
Emerging treatments such as lecanumab and donanemab require MRI scans for safety monitoring before starting the drug and during treatment.
Reducing the cost of scanning will also help reduce the overall cost of delivering these treatments.
Professor Nick Fox at UCL’s Institute of Neurology said: “As more treatments that can slow or change the course of dementia are being developed, it is important to ensure that MRI scans are available to everyone. This is because people with dementia often require an MRI scan as part of their diagnosis before they can access these treatments.
“To help make this possible, our team conducted the first study that looked at how a new imaging technique – called parallel imaging – could speed up MRI scans in clinics. Their goal is to get closer to a future where every person with dementia can get a diagnosis through a scan.”
Study, published in journal Alzheimer’s and dementiaThe aim of which is to understand the reliability of fast MRI scans compared to standard care clinical scans.
UCL researchers scanned 92 people aged between 50 and 90 as part of their routine clinical assessment.
The accelerated scan was updated to run in six minutes, 29 seconds, compared to the traditional scan, which takes 17 minutes, 39 seconds.
Three neuroradiologists, who did not know whether they were looking at the fast or standard scans, compared the results.
The team found that the accelerated scan, which reduced time in the scanner by 63 percent, was as reliable as standard scans for diagnosis and visual rating.
The researchers will now build on their early results by making sure the approach works on a variety of MRI machines, so it can benefit as many hospitals and clinics as possible.