Charlton Heston knows first hand that detecting Alzheimer's Disease early gives patients extended quality time with loved ones. Heston announced in 2002 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's after a PET scan detected signs of the disease.
UCLA researchers have found that PET scans enable physicians to diagnose Alzheimer's before the symptoms set in, which gives patients options to help delay the progression of the disease.
Using PET to determine if patients have Alzheimer's would correspond to a 65% decrease in avoidable months of nursing home care, and a 48% drop in unnecessary drug treatment, according to Dr. Daniel Silverman, assistant professor of molecular and medical pharmacology and associate director of imaging for the UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Center.
"Even a 6-month difference in the date of detection can profoundly affect the progression of Alzheimer's," said Dr. Michael E. Phelps, chair of the Department of Molecular Medical Pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
PET scans offer Alzheimer's patients HOPE.
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