This September will mark the launch of EU Horizon 2020 project DECIDE which aims to develop and launch an e-service for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
The Diagnostic Enhancement of Confidence by an International Distributed Environment (DECIDE) project is a collaboration of thirteen partners from five EU member states, which is led by the Italian GARR Institute.
Reliability and accessibility are among the advantages of developing the DECIDE service. Physicians do not need any specialised equipment in order to use this service, allowing less economically developed countries to reap equal benefits from this service.
Thanks to the contribution of project partners such as Alzheimer Europe, a wider non-scientific audience can be reached. Jean Georges, Executive Director of Alzheimer Europe, says: “We are pleased that our participation in FP7 projects has provided a new link between the scientists who seek a better understanding of dementia and the people who live with Alzheimer’s disease and all other forms of dementia.”
“Creating a e-Infrastructure to enhance the diagnostic confidence”
A neurologist can simply upload a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan of a patient who is suffering from mild cognitive impairment. The DECIDE system then compares this scan with thousands of existing scans in its database. In less than thirty minutes, the neurologist receives a report comparing indicators of dementia with the scan. The physician is then able to make a timely and accurate analysis of these result and subsequently diagnose the patient.
Principal Investigator Dr Fulvio Galeazzi comments: “DECIDE enables a physician at any remote hospital to analyse an MRI or a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan in a few minutes, whereas the same task on a single computer might take weeks or months.”
According to the EU run CORDIS: “DECIDE (Diagnostic Enhancement of Confidence by an International Distributed Environment), aims at creating a e-Infrastructure to enhance the diagnostic confidence in chronic brain diseases such as Alzheimer and dementia.
“Proper management of these neurodegenerative diseases are thought to be very important in terms of health-economical point of view.”
