Indian scientists turn to AI to help detect Alzheimer's disease

Artificial intelligence (AI) is helping a team of Indian scientists develop ways to detect Alzheimer's disease, according to a report in Mint.

A team led by National Brain Research Centre professor Pravat Mondal and Neuroimaging and Neurospectroscopy Laboratory is jointly working to develop a model that can map metabolic patterns in various sections of the brain.

Alzheimer's affects the memory and other mental functions. Since it is a chronic cognitive brain disorder. early diagnosis helps identify impairment of functions.

“Laboratory research and longitudinal clinical studies have helped to reveal much information about the disease but the exact causal process is not known yet,” Dr Mandal was quoted as saying. "Such AI framework by putting imaging and neuro-chemical information together will help immensely in early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease."

To develop the model, scientists are keeping track of all kinds of symptoms such as anatomical atrophy (degeneration of cells), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and neuropsychological measures to get sensitive specific characteristics of the disease.

Dr Mandal said data will be used from various diagnosis procedures to set up an AI system, which would diagnose new cases using machine learning. He said the predictive system would help medical professionals provide appropriate treatment. 

The report further said that the team is building a new framework called GAURI which can track chemical changes in the brain and help in early diagnosis of Alzheimer's.

“People from different research fields like physical science, engineering and mathematics as well as molecular biology need to come together to synergize the work,” Dr Mandal was quoted as saying. 

The medical community is increasing turning to newer technologies to help in diagnosis and treatment of diseases. 

Earlier this month, Apollo Hospitals Group said it was working with Microsoft to slash healthcare costs by suffusing its products and services with artificial intelligence. 

Last month, Microsoft's healthcare arm said it had used artificial intelligence and cloud computing to come up with a new service that will, among others, help medical workers choose effective treatment for diseases such as cancer based on a massive repository of genomic data.