A team of Manitoba researchers is using virtual reality to help make a very real difference in diagnosing Alzheimer's disease.
More than 20,000 Manitobans currently live with Alzheimer’s. Those numbers are expected to nearly double in the coming decades.
Right now, doctors can only truly diagnose the illness after it begins to ravage the brain, but a team of researchers from the University of Manitoba is working on an early warning system.
"If we can show that behavior is changing, along with the neuropathology, then we can be quite positive that someone has Alzheimer’s disease," said researcher Jesslyn Janssen.
The team thinks it's come up with a two-pronged approach to do just that.
They're working on a Virtual Reality headset that brings people into a world with one building, and one task.
The researchers have figured out people with Alzheimer’s can't do it – no matter how hard they try – because they're losing spatial orientation.
"If these abilities are deteriorating, that can help us to diagnose things way earlier than they do with imaging," said researcher Ahmad Byagowi.
The technology has been steadily refined over the past few years and now Janssen has added a new component: a bio-sensor that tests for a protein abundant in Alzheimer's patients.
"If we can bring these two methods together, that we've both invented, then it's going to lead to a strong diagnostic method," said Janssen.
It's a method that promises earlier treatments and improved outcomes for patients.
