(Columbia) April 24, 2003 - Alzheimer's Disease can be as mysterious as it is devastating, but one technology is helping provide a detailed look at the condition. A new, seven-second video image may reveal the future of the disease.

Dr. Paul Thompson, a professor of neurology at UCLA, says with the video, "You get a physical picture of how the devastation of Alzheimer's is spreading across the brain, which parts of the brain are affected and how fast."

The sequence is actually a composite of a dozen patients who had MRIs over a year-and-a-half. A super computer combined the brain scans into a moving image. Thompson says it shows where brain cells are dying, "So, memory areas lose tissue first, and that makes sense, 'cause memory is the first to go. Then the emotional areas of the brain, the areas involved in self-control, are the next to go."

For people like Ray Averill, the new technology could buy time. He's showing early signs of what could be Alzheimer's, "Verbally, when I want to talk, I will have difficulty getting the right word out.. Though I know what the word is, my mouth won't say the right thing."

If Ray does have early Alzheimer's Disease, the new technology could help him get the treatment he'll need to slow its progression, "They'll be able to make the change and say, 'Oh, this isn't gonna be able to work on him. See what's happened here. Now, we'll try this one.'"

Researchers say that may now be possible thanks to the new images.

Alzheimer's kills off brain cells at a rate of five to ten percent a year. As many as seven million Americans have the disease.

by Dawn Mercer

posted 12:13pm by Chris Rees