{"id":409,"date":"2018-06-03T10:49:14","date_gmt":"2018-06-03T10:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yza.ec2.mytemp.website\/blog\/?p=409"},"modified":"2025-03-10T15:17:54","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T09:47:54","slug":"what-is-alzheimer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starimagingindia.com\/blog\/what-is-alzheimer\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Alzheimer\u2019s? Symptoms and the Role of 3T MRI in Early Diagnosis."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Alzheimer\u2019s is a neurological disorder in which the death of brain cells causes progressive memory loss and decline in other mental functions. Symptoms are at first mild but become severe over time, as more areas of the brain get affected.<\/p>\n

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Who is at risk of developing Alzheimer\u2019s?<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>
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Age is one of the biggest risk factor \u2013 most Alzheimer\u2019s patients are over 65 years of age.<\/p>\n

Family history and heredity are also significant risk factors \u2013 people whose immediate family members have Alzheimer\u2019s are more likely to develop the disease. Similarly, carrying certain genes (example: Deterministic genes like amyloid precursor protein (APP), presenilin-1 (PS-1) and presenilin-2 (PS-2) or risk genes which include certain forms of the APOE gene) can increase the likelihood\u00a0of developing Alzheimer\u2019s. Other important tests may include a blood\/urine assessment, a CT or MRI scan of the brain, screening for depression, and in some cases, a genetic test.<\/p>\n

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Is there a cure?<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>
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As of today, there is no cure for Alzheimer\u2019s. However, certain drugs and therapeutic care can reduce symptoms and ensure a reasonably good quality of life. Since a patient with Alzheimer\u2019s will become increasingly dependent on others, it is crucial to facilitate a strong support system and experienced caregivers who can give them the help they need.<\/p>\n

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3T MRI - Early detection helps patients manage Alzheimer\u2019s better<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>
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Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the brain plays a crucial role in diagnosing Alzheimer\u2019s. Further, advanced 3T MRI scans provide more detailed images than traditional MRI scans, making it possible to pick up degenerative changes linked to Alzheimer\u2019s in the medial temporal area of the brain, which is where the hippocampus is located. Since these changes first appear in the hippocampus area, the importance of advanced 3T MRI systems should not be discounted when Alzheimer\u2019s or any kind of dementia is first suspected. Moreover, 3T MRI scans can help rule out other types of dementia, making it easier to get a definitive diagnosis early on and plan treatment strategies around that.<\/p>\n

With the availability of ‘Neuroquant\u2019 software at Star Imaging and Research Centre, exact volumes of different parts of brain can be calculated and can also be compared with age-matched control population. This helps in picking up atrophy \/degenerative changes at earlier stage before they become apparent to the eyes. That eventually helps in making an early diagnosis. The follow-up can be done in these patients to see the degree of atrophy and also to analyse the atrophy pattern in order to make diagnosis of different types of dementia.<\/p>\n

However, do remember that early detection does not mean that one can cure or prevent Alzheimer\u2019s \u2013 but it does enable the patient and their family members to come up with better management strategies that ensure a good quality of life going ahead.<\/p>\n

In addition, early detection also opens up possibilities of participating in clinical trials of new drugs that could slow down the progression of the disease or even offer a cure in the future.<\/p>\n

Read our blog to know more about what happens during an MRI scan<\/a>,<\/p>\n

As Pune\u2019s leading diagnostic centre with state-of-the-art 3T MRI machines, 128 slice CT machines and experienced, super-specialized radiologists, we have handled many cases where Alzheimer\u2019s was suspected and have successfully helped all patients get a conclusive diagnosis.<\/p>\n

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How can you reduce your chances of getting Alzheimer\u2019s?<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>
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Our lifestyle and diet choices can influence some of the risk factors that would otherwise lead to Alzheimer\u2019s. Scientists have a found a strong link between heart health and brain health, which makes sense since the brain is nourished by blood pumped by the heart. The risk of developing Alzheimer\u2019s increases for people with heart problems, including heart diseases, diabetes, strokes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet throughout your life and ensuring a healthy ageing process by staying mentally and physically fit, controlling your diet, avoiding excess smoking and alcohol, socializing regularly and exercising your brain and body, can go a long way in keeping the disease at bay.<\/p>\n

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About Star Imaging<\/h2>
For more information on Alzheimer\u2019s and the imaging tests required, feel free to call us.<\/div><\/div>
Book an Appointment<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-must-reads","category-mri-and-ct-scan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starimagingindia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starimagingindia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starimagingindia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starimagingindia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starimagingindia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/starimagingindia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1433,"href":"https:\/\/starimagingindia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions\/1433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starimagingindia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starimagingindia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starimagingindia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starimagingindia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}