Brain changes detect Alzheimer's seven years before plaques appear

A new study suggests that Alzheimer's disease may be detected by brain imaging more than seven years earlier than previously assumed. Researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo led the study, published in Nature Neuroscience.

The study suggests that the gold standard for imaging in Alzheimer's disease (amyloid-PET) has not been sensitive enough to detect early brain processes associated with the disease, such as the accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain. The researchers found signs of Alzheimer's at least seven years before plaques become visible.

"We found that structural changes in the brain occur many years before high levels of plaque are seen on PET scans, which is the brain scan currently used to identify the earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease," says James Michael Roe.

He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition (LCBC) at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo at the time the study was conducted, and now works as International Scientific Lead at Cercare Medical. He was the main researcher on the study when he was working at LCBC.