An "elegantly simple test" for analyzing the dynamic magnetic fields of the brain has been surprisingly accurate so far, and shows promise in detecting neurological disorders, virtually all of which could not, before now, be diagnosed via any form of available testing. Nearly 300 patients and healthy volunteers have been assessed at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis, where Dr. Apostolos Georgopoulos used a technology known as MEG (magnetoencephalography) to study the brains of patients with Alzheimer's, chronic alcoholism, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, and other disorders. Georgopoulos developed a method for analyzing the magnetism data and licensed the technology to a startup company, Orasi Medical Inc.

Brain Test Could Help Make Earlier Diagnoses

Date Published: 2007-08-24 00:00

Author: Maura Lerner

Source: Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune

Brain Test Could Help Make Earlier Diagnoses

      A technique developed by a U scientist shows promise in detecting
several neurological disorders for which there is no other single test.

http://www.startribune.com/1244/story/1377928.html

      A University of Minnesota scientist has discovered a way to detect
Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and other brain disorders by using a
device that tracks magnetic signals in the brain.
      Although the research is still in its early stages, it could lead to a
relatively quick and painless test for a wide range of conditions that
affect the brain, experts say.
      The scientist, Dr. Apostolos Georgopoulos, calls it an "elegantly
simple test" that has been surprisingly accurate so far in assessing nearly
300 patients and healthy volunteers.
      He and his research team used a technology known as MEG
(magnetoencephalography) at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis to study
people's brains as they stared at a point of light for 45 to 60 seconds.
      In a study published Wednesday, they found that they were able to
identify six types of disorders "with 100 percent accuracy."
      They included patients with Alzheimer's, chronic alcoholism,
schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, Sjogren's syndrome (an autoimmune
disease) and facial pain.
      What they found, Georgopoulos said, is that each disease affects the
brain differently, and alters the way brain cells communicate with one
another.
      There are no such tests for most brain diseases, which can be
difficult and time-consuming to diagnose. They're usually identified over
time by observing behavior, such as memory loss in Alzheimer's patients, and
other external symptoms.
      Georgopoulos, a regents professor of neuroscience known
internationally for his work on how the brain affects movement, said even he
was surprised by the apparent accuracy of the test. "It's just too good to
be true," he said in an interview. But the results have continued to hold
up, he said, even after they concluded the initial study, which involved 142
patients.
      "We're approaching our 300th subject," he said, "and it looks better
and better."

A tool for tracking treatments?
      If it pans out, the new test could be used to diagnose brain disorders
earlier, monitor their progress and track the effectiveness of new drugs and
treatments.
      "I think it has that potential," said Georgopoulos, who also heads the
Brain Sciences Center at the VA hospital.
      Tim Denison, a senior engineer who specializes in brain devices at
Medtronic Inc., agrees. "I believe that if it works out how he's described
it in the paper ... it could definitely help identify [diseases] much
earlier and with greater precision," he said.
      At the same time, he and other scientists agree that more research is
needed to prove its value.
      "This certainly is an innovative technique," said Dr. John Richert,
executive vice president for research at the National MS [multiple
sclerosis] Society in New York. But "it's not yet clear how helpful this
technique will be as a diagnostic tool."
      He noted that a relatively small number of MS patients were in the
study, and they appeared to have advanced disease. He wonders if the test
could identify patients at earlier stages, when it's tougher to diagnose.
"We need to know a lot more about this study and what it's detecting before
we will know how useful it will be," he said.
      Currently, there are only several hundred MEG devices in the world,
used mostly for research, Georgopoulos said. But that could change, he said,
if the tests prove as effective as they seem.
      Georgopoulos developed a method for analyzing the results, and holds a
patent for it that he shares with the university and the VA. They have
licensed that technology to a startup company, Orasi Medical Inc., in Edina.
      His research team plans to study the technique with other disorders,
such as depression, autism, fetal alcohol syndrome, Parkinson's disease and
post-traumatic stress disorder.
      The MEG device at the VA hospital cost about $2 million, including the
specially built room that houses it on the fourth floor. It must be sealed
in a vault-like space because noise can interfere with the results.

No risk to patients
      For patients, though, there is no risk of radiation or other dangerous
exposure, Georgopoulos said. They lie on a gurney as a helmet covers the top
of the head. By tracking tiny magnetic fields produced by electrical
activity in the brain, the superfast device can monitor the way the brain
cells communicate with one another. After only a minute, it has tens of
thousands of bits of data, which can be analyzed by computer for distinct
patterns.
      Georgopoulos said he got the idea after testing the device on 10
healthy volunteers and was struck by how identical their brain patterns
were. When he tried the test on chronic alcoholics, who had agreed to be
volunteers, the results were distinctly different.
      Eventually, he tested it on volunteers with six separate conditions,
and found that each group had its own distinct pattern.
      Wednesday's study was published online by the British Journal of
Neural Engineering.