Scientists are going to analyze more than a million brain scans with artificial intelligence with the aim of developing a tool to predict a person’s risk of dementia.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Dundee will examine CT and MRI scans of patients from Scotland captured over more than a decade, as part of a global research effort called NEURii.
The team will use AI and machine learning to match the image data with linked health records to find patterns that can help doctors better determine a person’s risk of developing dementia.
The number of people living with dementia worldwide is expected to almost triple to 153 million by 2050, and researchers warn that it poses a rapidly growing threat to health and social care systems. Health and societal costs associated with dementia already exceed $1tn (£780bn) a year, research shows.
The scientists aim to create digital tools that radiologists can use when scanning patients to determine their risk of dementia and diagnose the disease and related conditions earlier.
The tools could also help speed the development of more precise treatments for dementia, they said.
Prof Emanuele Trucco, an expert in AI and medical imaging at Dundee, said: “This new dataset will be of great use to neurological researchers.
“If we establish a successful proof of concept, we will have a suite of software tools seamlessly and unobtrusively integrated into routine radiology operations that aid clinical decision-making and flag the risk of dementia as early as possible.”
Up to 1.6 million images will be scanned, with the approval of the Health and Social Care Public Benefit and Privacy Panel, part of NHS Scotland.
The data will be held in the Scottish National Safe Haven, commissioned by Public Health Scotland to provide a secure platform for the use of NHS electronic data for research.
Project co-leader Prof Will Whiteley of Edinburgh’s Center for Clinical Brain Sciences said: “Better use of simple brain scans to predict dementia will lead to better understanding of dementia and potentially earlier diagnosis of its causes, which in turn development will make new treatments easier.
“Treatments for dementia are currently expensive, rare and of uncertain value. If we can collect data from a large group of people at high risk, who then give their consent to participate in trials, we can really start to develop new treatments.”
