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Greece is just one example of the population where elderly people and with it the cases of neurodegenerative diseases are increasing. These include Alzheimer’s disease, most commonIt accounts for 70% of neurodegenerative disease cases in Greece. According to estimates published by the Alzheimer’s Association of Greece, 197,000 people currently suffer from the disease. this number Expected to rise to 354,000 until 2050.

Andreas Papadopoulos^onePhysician and scientific coordinator at Iatropolis Medical Group, a leading diagnostic provider near Athens, Greece, explains the key role of early detection: “At the age of 65, the probability of developing Alzheimer’s is only 1% to 2%. But then it doubles. every five years. Existing drugs cannot reverse the course of degeneration; They can only slow it down. Therefore, it is very important to make the correct diagnosis in the early stages and to filter Alzheimer’s patients when the first mild cognitive impairment occurs.²”

Diseases such as Alzheimer’s or other neurodegenerative pathologies characteristically have a very slow progression, making it difficult to recognize and quantify pathological changes in brain MRI images at an early stage. Some radiologists describe the process as “predictive” when evaluating scans, as it is not always possible to observe well with the human eye the visual changes in the highly complex anatomy of the brain. This is where technical innovations such as artificial intelligence can offer support in the interpretation of clinical images.

Such a tool AI-Rad Companion Brain MRI³. AI-Rad Companion Brain MR, part of a family of AI-based decision support solutions for imaging, is a brain volume measurement software that provides automatic volumetric measurement of different brain segments. “He’s able to tell them apart: he isolates the hippocampi and the lobes of the brain and measures the volumes of white matter and gray matter separately for each segment.” says Dr. papadopoulos In total, it has the capacity to segment, measure volumes and highlight more than 40 regions of the brain.

Calculating volumetric properties manually can be an extremely laborious and time-consuming task. “More importantly, it also includes a degree of certainty observation that people simply can’t get.” says Dr. papadopoulos Papadopoulos has always been an early adopter and throughout his career has welcomed technological innovations in imaging. This AI-powered tool means it can now compare quantifications with normative data from a healthy population. And it’s not all about automation: the software displays the data in a structured report and creates a highlighted drift map based on user settings. This also allows the user to manually monitor volumetric changes with all important data already prepared automatically.

Opportunities to more accurately observe and evaluate volumetric changes in the brain encourages Papadopoulos when he considers how important early detection of neurodegenerative diseases is. He explains: “In the early stages, the volumetric changes are small. In the hippocampus, for example, there is a 10% to 15% volume reduction, which is very difficult for the eye. But the objective calculations provided by the system can be of great help.”

The goal of AI is to relieve physicians of a significant burden and ultimately save time when optimally placed in the workflow. An extremely valuable role for this AI-powered post-processing tool is its ability to visualize an aberration of different structures that might be difficult to detect with the naked eye. Papadopoulos already admits that the major advantage in his work is the “objective framework within which the AI-Rad Companion Brain MR can base its subjective assessment during an exam.”

AI-Rad Companion⁴ Siemens Healthineers supports clinicians in their daily routine diagnostic decision making. To maintain a continuous stream of value, our AI-powered tools include regular software updates and upgrades delivered to customers via the cloud. By taking full advantage of the cloud, customers can decide whether they want to integrate a fully cloud-based approach to their work environment or a hybrid approach that allows them to process imaging data in their hospital IT installations.

The upcoming software release of AI-Rad Companion Brain MR will include new algorithms capable of segmenting, measuring and visualizing white matter hyperintensities (WMH). Alongside the McDonald criteria, reporting of WHM aids in multiple sclerosis (MS) assessment.