New research is showing that ultrasound innovations can be ultra-beneficial to older adults across a wide range of applications.
One of the most surprising recent findings is that ultrasound can be used to treat people living with Alzheimer’s without needing to target toxic protein buildup in the brain.
Much current research into Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders has focused on how to improve non-invasive treatment techniques. But another assumption for Alzheimer’s is that the most important or effective treatment solutions need to target beta amyloid proteins, for which accumulation in the brain is thought to account for Alzheimers’ development, and subsequent memory loss and confusion.
But ultrasound therapy — using sound, instead of light, to generate vibrations in brain tissue — showed promise in improving memory and cognitive function, even without targeting and destroying amyloid proteins.
Although the researchers didn’t elaborate, the ultrasound therapy was not described as a mutually exclusive treatment option.
A separate but equally valuable use of ultrasound tech could be in palliative care. Portable or handheld ultrasound diagnostic tools could allow for more effective treatment options and reduce the need for costly rehospitalizations.
Those imaging tools already are available, and researchers conducted a narrative study of existing literature that appeared to validate their effectiveness; based on previous findings, new portable ultrasound devices made a difference in 50% of treatment decisions, the researchers found.
Although the researchers characterized the tool as “home-based,” this description appears to refer mostly to the possible preference that the older adults, or their families, had for treating the condition from their home, particularly if palliative becomes end-of-life care. A smaller ultrasound diagnostic, however, could be equally valuable in long-term care settings, particularly in skilled nursing facilities where there are on-site palliative care teams.
The reports on ultrasound’s benefits for Alzheimer’s and palliative care were published recently in the journals Molecular Psychiatry and Cureus, respectively.
