In the field of Alzheimer disease treatment and research, the use of different imaging techniques has shone as a bright light in recent years for a section of medicine that has longed for a successful pharmacologic intervention to be developed. Despite the frustration on the treatment front, however, methods such as PET imaging and MRI imaging have allowed clinicians to better understand and detect the disease in its earlier stages.
At the 2019 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, July 14-18, in Los Angeles, California, David Wolk, MD, associate professor of neurology, co-director, University of Pennsylvania Memory Center, addressed the attendees in a plenary session in which he provided an update on what can be done for neurodegeneration with MRI. To find out more about the talk, NeurologyLive sat with Wolk at the meeting.
He discussed the use of MRI in the diagnosis of Alzheimer as one of the most useful tools, not only due to its inexpensive and noninvasive nature and its widespread availability, but in the tracking of the disease over time. This, he noted, has implications for not just clinical use, but for trials. As well, he shared his insight into the additional information the imaging technique can provide to unlock why an individual may be having memory challenges.
