Scottish scientists to analyse brain scans that could help predict dementia risk and early diagnosis

A team of scientists and researchers are poised to scrutinise hundreds of thousands of brain scans in a bid to develop a software tool that could predict an individual's risk of dementia.The group, comprising 20 experts, will utilise AI to analyse data from CT and MRI scans, alongside information from health records, to identify patterns that may indicate the likelihood of developing the condition.Their goal is to create a digital tool for radiologists to use during patient scans to determine their risk of dementia and diagnose early stages of related diseases.The team believes that identifying a patient group with a high risk of dementia will facilitate the development of more precise treatments for various forms of the condition, including Alzheimer's.Composed of data scientists and clinical researchers from the universities of Edinburgh and Dundee, the team is part of a global research collaboration called NEURii, which was launched a year ago.They anticipate analysing up to 1.6 million images during the project, which has been approved by the Public Benefit and Privacy Panel for Health and Social Care, a part of NHS Scotland.The data will be securely stored in the Scottish National Safe Haven, commissioned by Public Health Scotland to provide a secure platform for the use of NHS electronic data for research. Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. Professor Will Whiteley of the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, who is co-leading the project, said: “Better use of simple brain scans to predict dementia will lead to better understanding of dementia and potentially earlier diagnosis of its causes, which in turn will