Hadassah rolls out non-invasive brain test to help prevent Alzheimer’s

A new medical test that could help doctors prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease – and discover new and better treatments for it – is now being conducted in Israel.

Hadassah-University Medical Center, on Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus, announced that it’s SRY subsidiary has contracted with General Electric (GE) to be the sole producer of Vizamyl, a radioactive diagnostic agent indicated for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging of the brain. It estimates -amyloid neuritic plaque density in adult patients with cognitive impairment, who are being evaluated for Alzheimer’s disease or other causes of cognitive decline.

“If you don’t see any deposit in the brain, you are OK,” explained Dr. Eyal Mishani of the Nuclear Medicine Institute at Hadassah Medical Center. “If you do see some, then you are at risk. You can change your way of living to suspend or prevent [the onset of Alzheimer’s] or help mitigate the progression of the disease.”

He said that one can eat different foods, and do certain exercises or other types of training to suspend the progression of the disease.

The technology was tested during a series of clinical trials at Sheba Medical Center. Since announcing the production of the compound and bringing the test to Hadassah, a handful of tests have been conducted. Mishani is confident that it will eventually be used regularly. He also said that Hadassah will provide the compound to other medical centers interested in conducting the PET-CT examination.

Hadassah has a six-year contract to exclusively produce and market the compound.

Another benefit of the test is that it can be used to test people with early onset of Alzheimer’s undergoing clinical trials, which can then be compared to a second scan conducted at the conclusion of treatment.

“This will help us evaluate these treatments,” Mishani said.

The PET-CT examination will not be covered by the Health Ministry’s Services Basket but rather by private payment.