Value added - USG serves Georgia [Feb. 2008]

VALUE ADDED: USG Serves Georgia

February 2008

Portable Device Quickly Detects Alzheimer's Early Stages

The latest medications can delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease, but none are able to reverse its devastating effects. This limitation often makes early detection the key to Alzheimer's patients maintaining a good quality of life for as long as possible.
Now, a new device developed by Georgia Tech and Emory University may allow patients to take a brief, inexpensive test that could be administered as part of a routine yearly checkup at a doctor's office to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI) often the earliest stage of Alzheimer's. Researchers expect to commercialize the device later this year.
Current assessment tests capable of detecting early Alzheimer's typically are taken with a pen and paper or at a computer terminal and last about 90 minutes. The test must be given by a trained technician in a quiet environment, because any distractions can influence the patient's score and reduce the test's effectiveness.

Because of its length and expense, the test is not used as a regular screening tool and typically is given only after there is obvious cognitive impairment such as forgetfulness or unsafe behavior.
"Families usually wait until their mom or dad does something somewhat dangerous, like forgetting to take their medications or getting lost, before bringing them in for testing. At that point, the patient has already lost a significant portion of their cognitive function," said Dr. David Wright, who helped develop the device.
Wright is assistant professor of emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and co-director of the Emory Emergency Medicine Research Center. "With this device, we might be able to pick up impairment well before those serious symptoms occur and start patients on medications that could delay those symptoms."
The Georgia Tech/Emory device, called DETECT, gives individuals a roughly 10minute test designed to gauge reaction time and memory functions that, when impaired, are associated with the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease. The test is a specially modified, shortened version of the traditional pen-and-paper test and could be given repeatedly by doctors to evaluate any changes in cognitive functions.

The DETECT system includes an LCD display in a visor with an onboard dedicated computer and noise reduction headphones.

"We really envision this to be part of the normal preventative care a patient receives from a general practitioner," said Dr. Michelle LaPlaca, one of the creators of the device and an associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and
See "DETECT," Page 2

VALUE ADDED USG Serves Georgia

DETECT Continued from P. 1
Emory University. "It would be part of a regular preventative medicine exam much like a PSA test or EKG (electrocardiogram), serving as a cognitive-impairment vital sign of sorts."
The DETECT visor's LCD display.
The portable test runs patients through a battery of visual and auditory stimuli such as pictures and words that assess cognitive abilities relative to age, gauging reaction time and memory capabilities. Its software can track cognitive capabilities and their decline year to year during annual appointments. And because the device blocks outside sound and light from the patient's environment, it can be administered in virtually any setting, providing more consistent results.
Preliminary analysis of the first 100 patients of a 400-person clinical study being conducted at Emory's Wesley Woods Center has shown that the 10-minute DETECT test has similar accuracy to the 90-minute "Gold Standard" pen-and-paper test.

With millions of baby boomers easing into late adulthood, the number of patients with Alzheimer's is expected to skyrocket over the next few decades. More than 24 million people worldwide are currently thought to have
Alzheimer's disease and by 2040, an estimated 81 million people worldwide are expected to develop the disease.
To give these millions of potential Alzheimer's sufferers a chance to slow the disease's advance before serious symptoms set in, doctors need an inexpensive and easy-to-administer test to detect and track the cognitive decline associated with the early stages of the disease.
The DETECT device is designed to be administered while a patient is still healthy, tracking any abnormal decreases in the patient's cognitive performance over time. If a patient's performance declines outside the normal range, the patient would then undergo additional testing and care from a neurologist, neuropsychologist or other specialist.
Georgia Tech and Emory researchers are exploring other types of cognitive impairment such as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) that could be picked up by DETECT. A version of the system designed to detect mild concussions on the sidelines of a football game, during other high-impact sports or on a battlefield, is still being tested.
The Georgia Tech/Emory research was funded with a grant from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation and support from the Georgia Research Alliance through Georgia Tech's VentureLab. Q