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Alzheimer's disease can be detected through a virtual reality navigation test, scientists at the University of Cambridge have discovered.
Clinical trials suggest that the new method can differentiate 90% of people with Alzheimer's disease from those with poor memory, and that it is more accurate than "standard" cognitive tests currently available, which are only 50% accurate.
The method sees patients donning a virtual reality helmet that presents them with a navigational task that they undertake in a stimulated environment.
The goal is to test the entorhinal cortex, a region of the brain responsible for navigation and one of the first parts damaged by Alzheimer's disease.
A team of scientists from the University of Cambridge, led by Dr. Dennis Chan, recruited 45 patients with mild cognitive impairment – a possible indication of Alzheimer's disease or the consequence of factors such as 39, anxiety or aging – to participate in the trials.
Once the navigation task was completed, cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected and examined for biomarkers of the underlying Alzheimer's disease. 12 tested positive.
The results, published in the journal Brain, revealed that those who tested positive for Alzheimer's disease performed worse than those who did not. In addition, the new method has been shown to be more accurate than current benchmarks.
"We know that Alzheimer's disease affects the brain long before the symptoms become apparent," Dr. Chan said. "We are reaching the point where everyday technologies can be used to detect the warning signs of the disease long before we become aware of it."
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