Dr Timothy Rittman is the clinical lead of the QMIN-MC trial, which uses a machine learning algorithm developed by Prof Zoe Kourtzi, research lead at the Alun Turing Institute. The algorithm trains itself to diagnose patients by looking at MRI brain scans to identify patterns. It then combines these finding with the results of standard memory tests. 

Dr Rittman, explained: “Traditionally, when we look at patient scans we are looking for patterns to be able to help us exclude things like strokes and brain tumours. The computer can do this much more comprehensively than any human, helping to give us not only a more accurate diagnosis, but also a prognosis as well. With a better prognosis we can identify how quickly a patient is moving away from the normal pattern of the disease and amend their treatment and care accordingly.”

The trial, uses a machine learning model published in NeuroImage Clinical and  has received wide publicity with articles published on the BBC and CUH websites. These articles and the paper are linked below. 

BBC article

Artificial intelligence may diagnose dementia in a day

CUH article

AI to speed up dementia diagnosis

NeuroImage: Clinical Paper

Modelling prognostic trajectories of cognitive decline due to Alzheimer’s disease