DALLAS: A new brain scan can spot Alzheimer’s 15 years before symptoms appear.
British scientists pioneering the technique say providing an early warning could prove crucial in beating the devastating brain disease.
The process, currently being tested at University College London, can locate and measure the proteins responsible for Alzheimer’s.
Scientists already know that sticky clumps of these proteins – types known as amyloid and tau – begin to appear in the brain years before the dementia takes hold.
Researchers are now pioneering use of emission tomography (PET) scans, which use radioactive tracers to search for the tell-tale clumps.