Rise in dementia calls for early, accurate diagnosis

Radiologists will play an increasingly important role in selecting the right patients for dementia treatment as more individuals survive into old age, according to neuroradiologists who spoke at the 2007 ECR.

New drugs that promise to slow down the effects of cognitive disorders are becoming available. Radiologists will need to use imaging to distinguish patients who will benefit from those who won't before administering an expensive treatment, said Dr. Hans Rolf Jager, a neuroradiologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London. Radiologists are also being asked to differentiate between dementing disorders as quickly as possible, said Prof. Elna-Marie Larsson, director of neuroradiology at Aalborg Hospital in Aalborg, Denmark.