British researchers test virtual reality technology to detect Alzheimer's disease

Researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK have found that virtual reality can detect early Alzheimer's disease more accurately than existing cognitive tests.

Existing cognitive tests on paper and pen are not designed to badess patients for navigational difficulties, which occur due to damage to the region of the brain's entorhinal cortex.

To remedy this, a team from the University's Department of Clinical Neuroscience worked with Professor Neil Burgess of University College London (UCL) to create and evaluate a virtual reality navigation test in patients at risk. of dementia.

The test involves the use of a VR headset to perform a navigation test while walking in a simulated environment.

Since the success of the task requires intact functioning of the entorhinal cortex, it is thought that patients with early Alzheimer's disease are disproportionately affected during the test.

The team collected cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 45 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and badyzed biomarkers for underlying Alzheimer's disease. Of the total participants, 12 were tested positive.

The study also involved 41 healthy controls matched by age for comparison purposes. All MCI patients showed inferior performance to the navigation task compared to healthy controls.

In addition, MCI patients with positive CSF markers performed lower than patients with negative markers.

"A navigation VR navigation test may be more effective at identifying early Alzheimer's disease than tests we currently use in clinical and research studies."

The researchers also found that the Virtual Reality Navigation task better distinguished patients with low or high risk MCI than the standard baseline tests currently used to diagnose early Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Dennis Chan, a scientist in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, said, "These findings suggest that a virtual reality navigation test may be more effective in identifying a disease of life." Early Alzheimer's tests that we currently use in clinical and research studies. "

The results of the study were published in the journal Brain.

The researchers believe that VR could also help clinical trials of drugs to slow down or halt Alzheimer's progression.

In addition, Dr. Chan has formed alliances to develop applications to detect and track disease.