Winnipeg researchers use virtual reality to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease

WINNIPEG – A team of Manitoba researchers hopes that using virtual reality can making a real difference in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease.

Right now, doctors can only truly diagnose the illness after it begins to ravage the brain.

But a team of researchers from the University of Manitoba is working on an early-warning system.

They’re creating a virtual reality headset that brings people into a world with one building and one task.

The researchers have figured out people with Alzheimer’s can’t complete the task because they’re losing spatial orientation.

In addition, the researchers are working on a new component — a bio-sensor that tests for a protein abundant in Alzheimer’s patients.

“If we can show that behaviour is changing, along with the neuropathology, then we can be quite positive that someone has Alzheimer’s disease,” says researcher Jesslyn Janssen.

“If we can bring these two methods together, that we’ve both invented, then it’s going to lead to a strong diagnostic method.”

Early diagnosis could mean better treatments and improved outcomes for patients.

More than 20,000 Manitobans currently live with Alzheimer’s. Those numbers are expected to nearly double in the coming decades.

(CTV Winnipeg)