6 innovations from Future Healthcare 2019

This week, Medical News Today attended the Future Healthcare Exhibition and Conference. Delegates presented us with technology, both new and old, destined to push healthcare forward.

They all had the potential to change the way that healthcare professionals deliver and monitor healthcare.

As ever, data and the way experts manipulate them featured heavily. As one presenter asked, "Data [are] the answer, what is the question?"

However, there were also companies attempting to reinvent old technologies using a fresh approach.

Below is a brief introduction to some of the products that piqued our interest this year.

1. Detecting dementia early

Today, Alzheimer's disease — the most common form of dementia — is one of the leading causesof death in the United States. As the population's average age slowly rises, the number of deaths due to dementia are likely to rise in line.

Despite this, catching dementia early remains challenging. Oxford Brain Diagnostics believe that their technology can catch the condition years before symptoms become apparent.

Their secret lies in cortical disarray measurement (CDM). In short, this technique enables scientists to gather an "extra level of detail" from existing MRI scans. This allows them to detect changes in the microanatomy of the brain.

Dr. Steven Chance — Oxford Brain Diagnostics' CEO — told MNT that "CDM extracts information about the microscopic structure of the brain's gray matter by applying a unique analysis to a standard form of MRI scan."

Alongside the obvious benefits of spotting the signs of dementia earlier, the technology might also assist the pharmaceutical industry: Researchers could quantify how experimental drugs affect the microstructure of the brain.