Researchers at the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging are launching an Alzheimer’s screening clinical trial that utilizes an innovative brain scanning system developed by Louisville-based Neuronetrix Inc.
The Neuronetrix system, which is called COGNISION, involves brainwave assessments using a technology called event-related potentials (ERPs). The COGNISION test is expected to be the first approved Alzheimer’s disease screening test that directly evaluates a patient’s cognitive performance. During the study, patients will wear a sophisticated electronic headset that will record brain activity in response to an auditory stimulus. The data is then uploaded to an online database where a powerful pattern recognition engine will correlate the ERP tests with known brainwave patterns.
The clinical trial will include up to 100 Alzheimer sufferers and controls over a period of six to 12 months.
Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease of the brain which afflicts roughly five million individuals in the United States, with 500,000 new cases reported each year.
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