March 20, 2008

Powerful imaging tools shed new light on how aging brain is assaulted by disease – and its remarkable capacity for repair

Toronto Conference, March 24-26, 2008

Toronto, ONT. – International leaders in brain imaging are meeting at The Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, March 24-26 to exchange ideas and advances in “Neuroimaging in Dementia”. The 18th Annual Rotman Research Institute Conference will focus on the uses of neuroimaging for dementia and cognitive rehabilitation.

With today’s powerful brain imaging technologies such as the 7-Tesla MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanner, researchers now have incredibly high resolution and detailed images of abnormal protein collections in the brain that were once visible only at autopsy. These high power magnets are providing a snapshot of people’s brains at the earliest stages of illness, leading to earlier diagnosis and start-up of treatment when drugs have the best chance of being effective in slowing down disease progression.

“We now have the capability to identify much earlier the pathological markers that signal the onset of a disease in the aging brain, such as Alzheimer’s or vascular dementia, and to monitor the effects of drug and cognitive rehabilitation on the brain itself,” says conference chair Dr. Tiffany Chow, a clinician-scientist in Baycrest’s Sam and Ida Ross Memory Clinic.

“It’s an exciting time because we can bring more technologies together, and access to specialized brain imaging with finer resolution allows us to determine what the intervention actually does.”

Should all patients over 65 with a memory complaint get a high resolution brain scan?
Dr. Chow notes that advances in brain imaging with its diagnostic and predictive capabilities is starting to stir debate about whether more powerful, higher resolution brain scans or amyloid imaging* should become part of routine clinical practice for all patients over 65 who present with a memory complaint. Not everyone with abnormal amyloid plaque deposits will go on to experience serious memory changes and full-blown symptoms of Alzheimer’s, says Dr. Chow. The clinician’s dilemma will be whether to initiate aggressive drug intervention as soon as plaque deposits are apparent in scans, even if memory changes are mild, or wait a little longer. Media will have access to clinicians and scientists at the conference who have strong opinions in this debate.

For the conference itinerary and full list of presenters, go to www.rotman-baycrest.on.ca

Media attending the conference are asked to sign in at the registration desk to receive the press kit with abstracts, and media badge. Presenters are available for interviews during the conference.

The Rotman Research Institute is among the leading brain research institutes in the world. It is part of Baycrest, an academic health sciences centre in Toronto with an established record of excellence in aging brain research, clinical interventions and treatments, and promising cognitive rehabilitation strategies. Baycrest is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.

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For more information on this release, please contact:
Kelly Connelly, Senior Media Officer
The Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest
Office: 416.785.2432
Pager at conference: 416.612.5494
kconnelly@baycrest.org

* Amyloids are abnormal protein deposits, known as plaques, that can build up in the brain and interfere with communication between neurons. Amyloid build-up is a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer’s and spotting it early helps to predict who among subjects presently considered to be at risk may actually develop Alzheimer’s.