Curing the incurable: How is AI revolutionising treatment for ALS, Alzheimer's and Dementia?

AI ushers in new hope in the fight against neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s, and various forms of dementia. Through the predictive capabilities of machine and deep learning (two subsets of AI), healthcare professionals today are able to predict the onset of these ailments years prior. Enabling early detection uncovers hidden risk factors and allows personalised care, thereby transforming the landscape of diagnosis and treatment.

ALS Detection:

The traditional method of diagnosing ALS stands to be an unnecessarily long procedure, inculcating unwanted spinal surgeries, carpal tunnel releases, and immunotherapies; redundant tests and labs; merely to exclude every other possible condition that could align with the symptoms the patient shows. As a result, this procedure could take up to a year or even more. Before this procedure procures information that could successfully diagnose the patient, the damage stands to be made, making it too late for any treatment to garner improvements.

However, AI and its ability to analyse vast amounts of data enable identifying early signs of the disease. For example, the uses AI to observe speech patterns, motor abilities, and the individual’s manner of walking. The AI notices subtle changes portrayed by the individual that the human eye tends to have trouble noticing until made explicitly evident. Integrating AI in the diagnosis of ALS makes it faster, giving patients more time to treat themselves with an increased amount of hope than with traditional methods.

This also enables diagnosis of patients who do not have any mentions of ALS in their medical records but could have undiagnosed ALS by recognising patterns in their medical histories. This reduces time and allows faster intervention, leading to better patient outcomes.

Predicting chances of developing Alzheimer’s years ahead:

Scientists at UCSF have developed a way to predict Alzheimer’s disease up to seven years before the symptoms start to appear via having machine learning analyse patient records. The machine learning analyses the patient's electronic health records and also considers factors such as high cholesterol, osteoporosis (especially in women), depression, and vitamin D deficiency, thereby fostering a success rate of nearly 72%.

This early prediction model allows patients to try various treatment plans, provides them the liberty to hope for improvement, and also lets them make lifestyle modifications that could procure delays or mitigations in the progression of Alzheimer’s.

Advancements in Dementia Research with AI:

Dementia is an amalgamation of various diseases caused by various underlying disorders like Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and more. Each kind of dementia varies with the different ancestral backgrounds, environmental exposures, and genetics. With this kind of complexity, it is inevitable that there will occur a large data set. Thereby, making the inculcation of AI into dementia-related studies essential, as emphasised by the NIH's Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias (CARD). AI’s capacity to analyse complex and large datasets uncovers subtle patterns in data, aiding in early detection and diagnosis of various dementia types and understanding their interrelations.

Moreover, AI is exceptional in identifying previously unknown genetic risk factors, enhancing healthcare professionals’ understanding of the ailment’s biology, and paving the way for personalised therapies.

Enhanced patient care with AI-enabled technology:

Apart from being entangled in vital research-related roles and predictive diagnosis-related roles in healthcare, AI is also equally entangled in caregiving. AI-powered robots are being explored by researchers to support dementia patients in their daily lives, promoting independence and reducing familial burden. These robots are being studied/built with the aim to respect the autonomy and dignity of patients while providing practical help with tasks such as medication reminders and emergency alerts. Innovations such as these are bound to be an improving agent for the patients’ quality of life and offer reassurance to the caregivers.

AI’s existence within this field shall potentially revolutionise the approaches taken towards the ailments deemed incurable, offering hope for earlier diagnoses, personalised treatments, and improved patient outcomes. As studies advance and technology evolves, AI is equipped to become an invulnerable warrior in this ongoing battle against ALS, Alzheimer’s, and dementia of other forms (source).