Software normally used to analyse pictures taken from space is
now being repurposed for use in large-scale screening programmes for Alzheimer's.
The AlzTools 3D Slicer tool uses techniques in the European
Space Agency's Envisat satellite software to examine the results of
magnetic resonance imaging scans (MRIs).
The software is able to pick out and identify specific elements
of each image. In terms of space satellite photography that might
be fields or roads, in terms of brain scans it's finding areas
which may have atrophied.
"If you have a space image and you have to select part of an
image -- a field or crops -- you need special routines to extract
the information," explained Carlos Fernández de la Peña of Elecnor
Deimos, a technology company specialising in areas like aerospace.
"Is this pixel a field, or a road?"
To adapt the algorithms for medical purposes the Deimos
researchers worked with specialists and medical doctors. One such
specialist, Ricardo Insausti Serrano, explained, "I looked at
images, and told them which part has which function. For example,
profound atrophy in the temporal lobe can be quantified. As long as
you know where to look, you can make an approximation about how
much volume has been lost."
The goal of the technology is not to replace medical expertise
but to enable scanning on a wider scale. Such scans would function
in a similar way to mammograms, offering early detection of the
disease or flagging up warning signs.
As Insausti Serrano says, "We want something that doesn't
require the latest equipment to give prognoses and early