DALLAS: A University of Manchester PhD student has used MR scans in a new way to detect the devastating form of dementia that affected her late husband, raising the possibility of earlier diagnosis.
Helen Beaumont’s husband, Clive was diagnosed with Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) aged 45 and died six years later in 1999.
Motivated by her loss, Helen set up a charity called Young Dementia UK, wrote a book which has made the NHS recommended reading list for dementia and enrolled at The University of Manchester to carry out her PhD.
Her research has focussed on using MR scans to look for signs of FTD and her findings have shown that it is possible to detect it by examining the amount and location of fluid in the brain.