This new programme could help to diagnose dementia earlier…

A new AI tool could help to spot early signs of dementia in patients suffering with memory problems.

A recent project created by Dan Blackburn and Heidi Christensen at the University of Sheffield (UK), in collaboration with Therapy Box (London, UK) and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), has produced an AI that, by conducting cognitive tests such as image descriptions and language fluency tests, can search for early symptoms of dementia and other memory related diseases in patients. This could aid assessment services by reducing their workload and could also mean that people in need of special care can obtain it quickly.

Around 900,000 people in the UK today suffer from dementia, and this number is only expected to double by 2040 according to the Alzheimer’s Society (UK). Researchers believe that their newly developed AI, CognoSpeak, could help to reduce these numbers and the workload placed on the clinicians who spend time diagnosing people suffering with memory problems.

CognoSpeak is designed to use memory probing questions, similar to those already used in consultations, in order to speed up the process of diagnosing patients and ensure that they receive the appropriate treatment. Although still in the research phase of trials, CognoSpeak has already demonstrated a 90% accuracy rate for identifying people who suffer from Alzheimer’s. Furthermore, the £1.4 million grant that the researchers have received means that the technology can be trialed more widely in the UK.

Christensen commented: “CognoSpeak is advanced, high tech and based on world leading research in this field. We have the biggest collection of data for this type of assessment anywhere in the world, which we’re using to advance the technology and improve its accuracy.”

The researchers believe that CognoSpeak could allow patients to feel more comfortable when being assessed, as it can be accessed from a browser at home, reducing the patient’s stress as they can take the test in a place in where they feel comfortable, and will also not have to wait to be evaluated.

CognoSpeak is designed to be used in between primary and secondary care, meaning that the results of the CognoSpeak test would decide whether an individual would need further treatment in a memory clinic. This could greatly reduce the time spent by clinicians on one patient, allowing them to help a greater number of people.

Moreover, the researchers are working hard to make the AI more accessible so that those in ethnic minority communities, or those who do not speak English as their first language, can use CognoSpeak to make it easier for them to be directed to the help that they need.

Lise Sproson, Patient and Public Involvement Lead at the NIHR Devices for Dignity MedTech Coorperative, commented: “We are working closely with a broad range of community groups, including Sheffield’s Israac Somali Community Association, to co-develop the look and feel of the CognoSpeak system, to ensure it is acceptable, relatable and easy to use.”

Blackburn believes that in the future “the CognoSpeak system could transform how dementia and other memory disorders are diagnosed by speeding up assessments.”