Why a Properly Timed Scan Truly Helps

Often times we overlook the usefulness of a CT scan, and MRI, or even the occasional X-Ray. The truth of the matter is that patients don’t really like to think about these things because they are not eager to find out that they may have something worse than a common cold, a headache, or a possibly fractured limb. There is that fear of the complex condition, a cancer, something worse than that, something that will kill us if we don’t treat it.

As we age there is also the worry that a scan will likely reveal something we are not going to be able to deal with on our own, something such as Alzheimer’s disease, or epilepsy. These types of conditions are very difficult for patients to deal with on their own. With epilepsy, being completely cured is never a certainty, and Alzheimer’s disease is a condition with no cure and progressively difficult stages of deterioration.

A new study shows a possible correlation between epilepsy and the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. While it’s not yet a certainty, this development brings about the thought that scanning for early detection may be a good concept to consider, given the serious nature of Alzheimer’s disease. According to what was published about the study itself “epileptic activity associated with Alzheimer's disease deserves increased attention because it has a harmful effect, can easily go unrecognized and untreated, and may reflect pathogenic processes that also contribute to other aspects of the illness.”

These are the kind of things that merit a concentrated effort in order to better understand what this can mean to patients that suffer or may have suffer from some form of epilepsy or another. It’s still really difficult, and in some opinions, nearly impossible to tell what causes epilepsy or why. It will be interesting to see what the correlation is between the very difficult conditions.

The study was conducted in the following way “Dr. Vossel and colleagues studied 54 patients with both cognitive impairment and epileptiform activity, and they assessed clinical and demographic data, electroencephalography (EEG) readings, and treatment responses to anti-epileptic medications.” The way this study was conducted is indicative of an attempt to further discover links between genetics and these two conditions, while this something that has yet to be proven, it is definitely something to be considered.

If you have any questions about diagnostic imaging procedures please feel free to give us a call. We here at Clermont Radiology look forward to answering any questions that you may have.

Charla Hurst General
Operations Manager
Charla@ClermontRadiology.com  
352-241-6100 

www.ClermontRadiology.com 

References: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/808574