Machine learning could help revolutionize early Alzheimer's diagnosis

Alzheimer's is a devastating chronic neurodegenerative disease that currently affects about 5.4 million people in the U.S. alone. Alzheimer's patients suffer progressive mental deterioration, which eventually impairs even basic bodily functions like walking and swallowing. While Alzheimer's can increasingly be managed, one of the big challenges of the disease is early diagnosis. MRI machines can be used to confirm advanced cases, but by the time the disease has reached this stage, brain tissue is gone and there is no way to restore it. Could machine-learning tools be used to help detect and identify Alzheimer's disease before it is currently possible to do so?