Portable device quickly detects early A...(emory functions that when impaired are ...)

We really envision this to be part of the normal preventative care a patient receives from a general practitioner, said Michelle LaPlaca, Ph.D., one of the creators of the device and an associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. It would be part of a regular preventative medicine exam much like a PSA test or EKG (electrocardiogram), serving as a cognitive impairment vital sign of sorts.

The portable test runs patients through a battery of visual and auditory stimuli such as pictures and words that assess cognitive abilities relative to age, gauging reaction time and memory capabilities. Its software can track cognitive capabilities and decline year to year during annual appointments. And because the device blocks outside sound and light from the patients environment, it can be administered in virtually any setting, providing more consistent results.

Preliminary analysis of the first 100 patients of a 400-person clinical study being conducted at Emory's Wesley Woods Center has shown that the 10-minute DETECT test has similar accuracy to the 90-minute Gold Standard pen and paper test.

With millions of baby boomers easing into late adulthood, the number of patients with Alzheimers is expected to skyrocket over the next few decades. More than 24 million people worldwide are currently thought to have Alzheimers disease and by 2040, an estimated 81 million people worldwide are expected to develop the disease.

To give these millions of potential Alzheimers sufferers a chance to slow the diseases advance before serious symptoms set in, doctors need an inexpensive and easy-to
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