AI Algorithm That Detects Brain Abnormalities Could Help Cure Epilepsy

AHA Publisher — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 07:00:16 +0000

University College London via Newswise – An artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that can detect subtle brain abnormalities which cause epileptic seizures has been developed by a UCL-led team of international researchers. The Multicentre Epilepsy Lesion Detection project (MELD) used over 1,000 patient MRI scans from 22 global epilepsy centres to develop the algorithm, which provides reports of where abnormalities are in cases of drug-resistant focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) – a leading cause of epilepsy. FCDs are areas of the brain that have developed abnormally and often cause drug-resistant epilepsy. It is typically treated with surgery, however identifying the lesions from an MRI is an ongoing challenge for clinicians, as MRI scans in FCDs can look normal. To develop the algorithm, the team quantified cortical features from the MRI scans, such as how thick or folded the cortex/brain surface was, and used around 300,000 locations across the brain. Researchers then trained the algorithm on examples labelled by expert radiologists as either being a healthy brain or having FCD – dependant on their patterns and features. The findings, published in Brain, found that overall the algorithm was able to detect the FCD in 67% of cases in the cohort (538 participants). Previously, 178 of the participants had been considered MRI negative, which means that radiologists had been unable to find the abnormality – yet the MELD algorithm was able to identify the FCD in 63% of these cases. This is particularly important, as if doctors can find the abnormality in the brain scan, then surgery to remove it can provide a cure. Co-first author, Mathilde Ripart (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health) said: “We put an emphasis on creating an AI algorithm that was interpretable and could help doctors make decisions. Showing doctors how the MELD algorithm made its predictions was an essential part of that process.” Co-senior author, Dr Konrad Wagstyl (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) added: “This algorithm could help to find more of these hidden lesions in children and adults with epilepsy, and enable more patients with epilepsy to be considered for brain surgery that could cure the epilepsy and improve their cognitive development. Roughly 440 children per year could benefit from epilepsy surgery in England.” Around 1% of the world’s population have the serious neurological condition epilepsy, that is characterised by frequent seizures. In the UK some 600,000 people are affected. While drugs treatments are available for the majority of people with epilepsy, 20-30% do not respond to medications. In children who have had surgery to control their epilepsy, FCD is the most common cause, and in adults it is the third most common cause. Additionally, of patients who have epilepsy that have an abnormality in the brain that cannot be found on MRI scans, FCD is the most common cause. Co-first author, Dr. Hannah Spitzer (Helmholtz Munich) said: “Our algorithm automatically learns to detect lesions from thousands of MRI scans of patients. It can reliably detect lesions of different types, shapes and sizes, and even many of those lesions that were previously missed by radiologists.” Co-senior author, Dr Sophie Adler (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health) added: “We hope that this technology will help to identify epilepsy-causing abnormalities that are currently being missed. Ultimately it could enable more people with epilepsy to have potentially curative brain surgery.” This study on FCD detection uses the largest MRI cohort of FCDs to date, meaning it is able to detect all types of FCD. The MELD FCD classifier tool can be run on any patient with a suspicion of having an FCD who is over the age of 3 years and has an MRI scan. The MELD project is supported by the Rosetrees Trust. To read the original article click here.

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Study: Two or More Servings of Fish Per Week May Protect Healthy Brains

AHA Publisher — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 08:00:23 +0000

American Academy of Neurology (AAN) via Newswise – MINNEAPOLIS – A new study suggests that healthy older people who eat two or more servings of fish a week, including salmon, tuna and sardines, may have a lower risk later in life of developing vascular brain disease, a group of conditions that affect blood flow and blood vessels in the brain. The research is published in the November 3, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study found that eating a diet rich in fish had the greatest protective effect on people younger than 75 years old. “Our results are exciting because they show something as simple as eating two or more servings of fish each week is associated with fewer brain lesions and other markers of vascular brain damage, long before obvious signs of dementia appear,” said study author Cecilia Samieri, PhD, of the University of Bordeaux in France. “However, eating that much fish did not have a protective effect in people 75 years of age and older.” The study looked at 1,623 people 65 and older, with an average age of 72, who did not have dementia, stroke or a history of cardiovascular disease. Brain scans were taken to look for three markers of vascular disease that are strong predictors of cognitive decline and dementia. They were white matter hyperintensities, which are small lesions on the brain; covert infarcts, or cavities in the brain; and enlarged perivascular spaces, which are fluid-filled spaces in brain tissue. By combining these three markers, researchers came up with a single measure of underlying vascular brain disease. People filled out questionnaires about their diets, which included information about how frequently they ate fish. The entire group, on average, consumed fish two times per week, with 11% of the group eating fish less than once a week, 37% eating fish about once a week, 47% eating fish two or three times per week and 6% eating fish four or more times per week. Overall, 8% of participants had covert infarcts and 6% had severe dilated perivascular spaces. Of overall white matter volume, 2% was from hyperintensities. Researchers found that among people who ate no fish, 31% had markers of severe underlying vascular brain disease, compared to 23% of those who ate three servings a week, and 18% of those who ate four or more servings of fish per week. This association between lower fish consumption and greater severity of markers of vascular brain disease was independent of any differences in brain volumes and other variables like age and sex. When looking at age, researchers found stronger associations for younger people, but no association for people 75 and older. In the younger people between the ages of 65 and 69 years, for whom fish was most strongly associated with brain disease, consuming fish two or three times a week was roughly equivalent, in the opposite direction, to the effect of having high blood pressure. Consuming fish four or more times a week had double that effect. “More research is needed to help us understand the mechanism of how eating fish may preserve brain vascular health, because diet is a factor people can modify to possibly decrease their risk of cognitive decline and even dementia later in life,” Samieri said. The study does not prove that eating fish prevents dementia, it only shows an association between the two. To read the original article click here.

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AI Algorithm That Detects Brain Abnormalities Could Help Cure Epilepsy

Study: Two or More Servings of Fish Per Week May Protect Healthy Brains