Jennifer Mathews: It took dedicated researches and a supercomputer to produce this 7 second video image. What it reveals may change the future of Alzheimer's disease.
Paul Thompson: You've actually got a physical picture of how the devastation of Alzheimer's is spreading across the brain, which parts of the brain are affected and how fast.
Jennifer Mathews: The sequence is actually a composite of a dozen patients you had MRIs over a year-and-a-half. This computer combined the brain scans into a moving image. The red areas show brain cells dying.
Paul Thompson: Some memory areas lose tissue first and that make sense, this memory is the first to go. Then the emotional areas of the brain that is involved in self-control are the next to go.
Jennifer Mathews: Where people like Ray Averill, the new technology could buy time. He is showing an early signs of what maybe Alzheimer's.
Ray Averill: Verbally when I want to talk, I will have difficulty getting the right word out, though I know what the word is; my mouth won't say the right thing.
Jennifer Mathews: If Ray does have early Alzheimer's disease, the new technology could help get him the treatment he will need to slow the progression.
Ray Averill: You'll be able to make the change and say, oh, this isn't going to work and let's see what's happened here, now we'll try this one.
Jennifer Mathews: Researcher say, that may now be possible. Thanks to these images that are catching Alzheimer's red-handed. This is Jennifer Mathews reporting.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services