Boston University AI Tool Is Helping Detect Early Alzheimer’s

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The early detection of Alzheimer's can mean the difference between
successful therapy and failure.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Early detection is the key, so you need to figure
out different bays to do early detection.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
But the gold standard for diagnosing early Alzheimer's is a
PET scan. Professor of J. Kolachalama at Bus says those
aren't super common and they don't come cheap either.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
The PET scans are very expensive. Almost a scan costs
like eight thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
So he and his team have developed an AI tool
to fill in part of the gap. Training it on
data like cognitive tests and MRIs from thousands of patients, and.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Then we try to predict if somebody is going to
be positive on the PET scan without actually using pet scan.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
The AI tool can now point to the early signs
of Alzheimer's with about eighty percent accuracy. The idea is
to use this in clinical trials in other places to
find the people who actually need expensive scans and those
who probably don't. Kyle Schaffel WBZ, Boston's News Radio