QNotes, Vol. 9, Issue 8
Qmetrics Technologies is proud to join with organizations worldwide to honor World Alzheimer’s Month, which is the international campaign by Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) recognized every September to raise awareness and challenge the stigma that surrounds dementia.
Two out of every three people globally believe there is little or no understanding of dementia in their countries. The impact of World Alzheimer’s Month is growing, but the stigmatization and misinformation that surrounds dementia remains a global problem that requires global action.
Dementia is a collective name for progressive brain syndromes which affect memory, thinking, behavior and emotion. Dementia is the leading cause of disability and dependency among the elderly. Although each person will experience dementia in their own way, eventually those affected are unable to care for themselves and need help with all aspects of daily life.
There are over 100 forms of dementia. The most well-known form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for 50-60% of all cases. Dementia affects almost 50 million people worldwide, with a new case of dementia occurring somewhere in the world every 3 seconds. There is currently no cure for dementia, but treatment and support are available.
Many organizations are actively and aggressively working to find treatments, therapies, potentially a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease. Qmetrics is part of this international community working to better understand dementia. In 2014, Qmetrics’ CTO, José Tamez-Peña was an author of a study published in the Journal of Medical Imaging which discussed how imaging could help in the prediction of mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease progression. Currently, Qmetrics is offering its Alzheimer’s Disease DiscernAI Signature. This was developed to help clinicians identify what risk category a patient falls into for developing a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and the probable length of time until they reach that diagnosis, by using a routine MRI study and a common cognitive assessment (MMSE). Learn more about it here.