Source : Perth Now news
Australian researchers are trialling therapeutic ultrasound to see if it can help relieve challenging Alzheimer’s symptoms.
Biotech company Ceretas will test its technology on 60 Alzheimer patients in a clinical trial that will take place over 18 months.
It is the latest step in promising research that began a decade ago at the University of Queensland’s Brain Institute.
Ceretas Chief Executive Officer Rachel De Las Heras said energy was directed into the brain with low intensity ultrasound.
Ms De Las Heras said unlike diagnostic ultrasounds that took images of tissue, it was used specifically to treat tissue.
Similar technology is also used in physiotherapy to deliver heat directly into tissue to help repair muscle damage, and on Parkinson’s patients to improve tremors.
“We use ultrasound at a lower intensity that delivers a very specific amount of energy directly in the brain to restore the plasticity that stops working with age and as individuals with Alzheimer’s disease progresses,” she said.
Ceretas tested the technology on 12 people with Alzheimers disease, which showed improvements in behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia.
“Often individuals who have Alzheimer’s and dementia have symptoms that are very complex,” she said.
“They can become irritated, depressed, have anxiety and might have hallucinations, in addition to the loss of memory and cognitive skills as the disease progresses.
“In 10 of the 12 individuals that we tested in phase one, we saw an improvement in the total score of these complex behavioural and psychological symptoms.”
If the second phase of testing proves successful scientists will begin a third trial before they seek approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration to go commercial.
Ceretas Executive Director Tony Keating said ultrasound had the potential to become disease modifying where memory and cognition could improve.
“At this stage, we’re focused on those behavioural symptoms because, in all honesty, that’s one of the main challenges with treating and caring for Alzheimer’s patients,” he said.
“When they become agitated or aggressive they’re very difficult to manage and they often get put into to nursing homes early because of those symptoms.”
The company hopes it can provide a solution or treatment to help people stay at home and be cared for by their loved one for longer.
“Both Rachel and I had parents with dementia and Alzheimer’s,” he said.
“My father was aggressive and agitated, and the reason he needed to go into a nursing home was because we weren’t able to manage him at home.
“One of the one of the biggest challenges for carers in aged care facilities is how to manage these symptoms without using physical or chemical restraint.”
