University of Queensland scientists have produced ground-breaking 3D images showing brain tissue loss in people with Alzheimer's disease.
The stunning, computer-generated images produced with the aid of a supercomputer show the progress over six months of Alzheimer's disease in patients and the loss of tissue density in the human brain.
Another type of advanced imaging showed the loss of white matter in the brain for the first time. This type of imaging showed that as Alzheimer's disease progressed, the right and left hemispheres of the brain became increasingly isolated because of fibre loss, and stopped talking to each other.
"It's an important outcome because we've been able to scientifically diagnose and follow the progress of Alzheimer's disease for the first time," University Centre for Magnetic Resonance director Professor David Doddrell said.
Alzheimer's disease or dementia is a progressive loss of intellectual function which is usually, but not always, associated with ageing. An estimated 175,000 Australians will have this disease by 2006, at a potential cost of billions of dollars for State and Federal governments.
The finding was made by researchers at the Centre for Magnetic Resonance (CMR) and the University's Medicine Department at Princess Alexandra Hospital. The Queensland group is one of only a handful in the world studying brain function using fast magnetic resonance imaging.
Professor Doddrell said the brain was a very challenging organ to analyse in action.
"Doctors can make educated guesses based on clinical diagnoses, and are correct about 80 to 90 percent of the time. Confirmation can be made only by brain tissue analysis at post mortem, in combination with the clinical history," he said.
The University of Queensland project studied the disease in volunteers using non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging, the same type of scanning used in major public teaching hospitals, to obtain anatomical and biochemical information about the brain. 300 subjects were screened, then 20 normal and 20 subjects with Alzheimer's disease were followed at six to 12 monthly intervals over three years with MRI and neuorpsychological testing.
Professor Doddrell said the project outcome meant it may now be possible for scientists to diagnose and follow the progress of this insidious disease.
As part of the work, the research team has successfully incorporated an advanced neuro-MRI program known as water diffusion tensor imaging into the program. This technique has emerged as a method of considerable promise to map white matter tracts in the brain in stroke patients. The technique has been successfully applied on patients with Alzheimer's disease to show previously magnetic resonance invisible white matter tracts of the brain.
Team members included magnetic resonance imaging physicists Dr Stephen Rose, Dr Graham Galloway and Professor Doddrell; neuropsychologist Greig de Zubicaray; image processing and computer scientists Dr Deming Wang and Dr Fion Chen in the Centre for Magnetic Resonance; neurologist Dr Jonathan Chalk in the Medicine Department; together with neuropsychologist Dr James Semple from SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals.
The project which commenced in 1996 has received in excess of $1.2million funding from SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals.
Media: For further information, contact Professor David Doddrell, telephone 07 3365 4097.
