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Tech due in 2026 uses AI to detect dementia early before symptoms show up

Girl having eye test

The NeurEYE research team in Scotland is currently working on a novel method of diagnosing dementia through eye scans using artificial intelligence. According to BBC News, the team are using retina photographs to train AI software how to detect signs of dementia — the eyes give clues before other symptoms emerge, so it's an interesting approach for acting quickly to slow down the disease.

The team has almost a million images from opticians around Scotland, the largest data set of its kind in the world. The AI they're working on looks at the blood vessels in the eye to see if there are signs of dementia.

“The eye can tell us far more than we thought possible,” said Baljean Dhillon, professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at the University of Edinburgh and NeurEYE co-lead. “The retina holds a whole wealth of information and is a biological barometer of our brain health. We can see the retina with the simple, inexpensive equipment found in every high street in the UK and beyond.”

“Something very simple like a photograph of a retina can now be harnessed to potentially predict brain change later on in life.”

While there's no cure for dementia yet, it can be managed better if it's caught early on. By detecting it from eye scans before symptoms start to emerge, it gives doctors the ability to start working with patients much sooner. The disease can lead to problems remembering, thinking, and speaking.

According to Dementia UK, the disease affects one in 14 at age 65 and one in six by the age of 80. With so many people that could be impacted, the sooner this technology is deployed the better.

The researchers plan to have a prototype ready later this year, with a wider rollout to opticians around the UK in 2026. While many people fear the impact that artificial intelligence will have on their lives with respect to employment, it's clear that the technology is having lots of beneficial applications in the sciences to improve lives.

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