– Validates clinical hypothesis on which the company’s technology was founded
The Brain Protection Company Pty Ltd, a privately-held medical device company developing novel therapies and diagnostics for age-related dementia/Alzheimer’s disease, today announced “fast track” publication of a manuscript by the European Heart Journal, validating the clinical hypothesis on which their technology is founded.
The Whitehall II study, led by Professor John Deanfield from the University College London (UCL) and co-funded by The Brain Protection Company with the British Heart Foundation, studied 3191 healthy middle-aged volunteers over the course of 10-15 years and was able to predict cognitive decline with a simple neck scan, a decade before symptoms appear.
Volunteers underwent a non-invasive ultrasound of the carotid artery to measure the intensity of pulse waves travelling towards the brain and were then monitored to assess changes in memory and problem-solving ability. Individuals with the highest intensity pulse waves (top 25%) were 50% more likely to develop accelerated cognitive decline over the next decade. This difference was present even after adjustments for confounding factors such as age, gender, body mass index, blood pressure, diabetes and heart conditions.
Dr. Scott Chiesa, Post-Doctoral Researcher at UCL and the first named author,
