Computer can spot early signs of Alzheimer’s

ARTIFICIAL Intelligence can be used to spot early signs of Alzheimer’s disease years before a patient would normally be diagnosed, research has shown.

Scientists conducting a small pilot study trained a self-learning computer programme to recognise tell-tale features in brain scans too subtle for humans to see.

The system was able to detect the beginnings of Alzheimer’s in 40 patients an average of more than six years before they were formerly diagnosed.

British AI expert Professor Noel Sharkey, from the University of Sheffield, said of the US findings: “This is exactly the sort of task that deep learning is cut out for - finding high level patterns in data.”

The research is published in the latest issue of the journal Radiology.

Dr Carol Routledge, from Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “The diseases that cause dementia begin in the brain up to 20 years before any symptoms start to show, presenting a vital window of opportunity for us to intervene before widespread damage occurs.

“This study highlights the potential of machine learning to assist with the early detection of diseases like Alzheimer’s, but the findings will need to be confirmed in much larger groups of people before we can properly assess the power of this approach, ” she said.