The way in which brains shrink in those who develop Alzheimer's disease follows no specific or uniform pattern, finds a new study by researchers at UCL and Radboud University in the Netherlands. Published in Alzheimer's & Dementia , the study is the first to compare individual patterns of brain shrinkage over time in people with mild memory problems or Alzheimer's disease against a healthy benchmark. Assessing brain scans for the "fingerprints" of disease, researchers found that, among people with mild memory issues, those who develop a greater number of 'outlier' changes more quickly are more likely to develop Alzheimer's.
An outlier is classified as a specific brain area that, when adjusted for age and sex, has shrunk more than normal. However, researchers also found that, despite some overlap, there was no uniform pattern to the way the brain shrank in those who developed Alzheimer's. The scientists say this new finding could enable more personalized medicines to be developed, targeting the specific range of brain areas affected in an individual.
Study author, Professor Jonathan Schott from UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, said, "We know that Alzheimer's affects everyone differently. Understanding and quantifying this variability has important implications for the design and interpretation of clinical trials, and potentially in due course for counseling patients and developing personalized approaches to treatment." Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of de.
