A three -minute test, called Fastball, manages to identify the memory of the memory typical of the early stages of Alzheimer’s. It does not require efforts to the patient, it can also be done at home and promises to make the diagnosis much more accessible.
Understand if a person is developing the first signals Alzheimer’s It may soon take three minutes. Is the promise of A new test developed by researchers of the British University of Bath and Bristol and published in the magazine Brain Communications. They baptized it “Fastball EEG” Because it is based on a very rapid burst of images projected in front of the subject while an electroencephalogram records brain activity. There is no need to respond, nor to remember words or sequences: the brain does everything alone. And if something is wrong, the electroencephalogram reveals it. The principle is so simple to tell how sophisticated to measure. People see a series of images, some new and others already presented previously. In normal conditions, the brain emits a precise signal when it recognizes a family stimulus. It is an automatic reaction, which takes place even if we are not asked to pay attention. In patients with a slight cognitive deterioration of an amnesic type – the clinical condition that most often evolves towards Alzheimer – that signal is attenuated or absent. It is as if the recognition system had jammed.
In recent years, research has shown that The most promising drugs against Alzheimerlike the anti-amyloid ones, make sense only if administered very soon, when brain damage is not yet irreversible. The problem is precisely to be able to identify those who are entering that path in time. Today early diagnosis It passes through complex neuropsychological tests, blood tests in experimentation, expensive cerebral pets or lumbar stings. All effective but not easily accessible tools: a quick, non -invasive and low cost test could fill this gap, allowing Vast scale screening And offering millions of people the opportunity to know before, and better, where I am. One of the aspects that most struck the scholars is that Fastball can be used not only in specialized centers but also at home. A portable EEG bob and a computer are enough, tools that could be distributed even in the basic clinics or in the nursing homes: in three minutes the system records brain responses And it provides a clear signal, without requesting the active collaboration of the person. Not a small detail: many patients, especially in the initial stages of the disease, may feel anxious or in difficulty in the face of traditional cognitive tests. Here, however, they only have to look at images; The charm of the novelty, however, must not make the limits forget. The studies carried out so far involved Groups of relatively small patients and large -scale confirmations will be neededin different countries and in different clinical conditions. Fastball also does not distinguish Alzheimer’s from other forms of cognitive deterioration: it is a tool that measures the functioning of memory, not the direct presence of amyloid plates or Tau protein. In other words, It can become a precious alarm light, but it will be integrated with other diagnostic tools.
