Dementia could be predicted with MRI

Scientists have hailed a breakthrough in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease after finding a way to predict which patients will develop dementia years before it sets in.

As many as 40 per cent of Britain’s 145,000 Parkinson’s patients will go on to develop dementia or other serious cognitive problems at some point, although it has been impossi- ble to know who will be affected and when.

But researchers have found a specific region of the brain begins to deteriorate well before any symptoms of cognitive decline are visible.

This means an MRI scan can identify those at high risk of developing dementia in the following five years in a test that is cheap, accessible, reliable and simple, the researchers say. Professor Marios Politis, from King’s College London, who is leading the research, said: “I’m extremely excited about this.

“It’s very rare in science that you can get such a clear indication about a very common symptom from just one specific location of the brain.”

The discovery will open the door to the development of an effective treatment by enabling more targeted clinical trials.”.