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Approximately 4,000,000 people in the U.S. have Alzheimer's disease. Judy is worried she’ll become one of them. She considers herself “genetically loaded” for Alzheimer’s because her mother and several members of her mother’s family suffered from the disease.
Hoping to stave off the disease through early detection, Judy decided to have a SPECT scan. Though she was experiencing no symptoms, Judy wanted to find out if there was any sign of the disease, so she could begin taking medications early.
Judy’s first SPECT scan showed no indications of the disease and two subsequent scans produced the same results.
“That was really good news for me,” said Judy. “It really has improved my anxiety level.”
Research suggests that SPECT Imaging can identify the presence of Alzheimer's disease and can be used as a screening tool several years before the onset of symptoms. With early detection, current anti-Alzheimer's drugs show promise in their ability to slow the progression of this disorder and have been shown on SPECT images to actually improve blood flow in the affected parts of the brain.
The College of Radiology and the Society of Nuclear Medicine also recognize Brain SPECT Imaging as a tool to identify the presence of Alzheimer's disease once symptoms are suspected.
In summer 2010 the National Alzheimer’s Association recommended expanding the definition of Alzheimer’s disease to include the phases of the disease that occur up to two decades before the onset of symptoms. It also recommended that SPECT imaging be employed to detect the presence of mild cognitive impairment, which can be a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease that occurs up to five years before the presence of symptoms.
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