‘Fastball’ Alzheimer’s Test Secures £1.5 Million Funding

The project, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)’s Invention for Innovation (i4i), will see researchers Drs George Stothart and Liz Coulthard scale-up testing and development for their innovative ‘Fastball EEG’ dementia assessment at Southmead Hospital in Bristol.

‘Fastball’ is a non-invasive, passive test that monitors patients’ brain waves as they watch a succession of flashing images on a screen. The technique, which was developed in-house by the researchers, needs users to wear an electroencephalogram (EEG) headset, which is linked to a computer for analysis.

Previous study by Dr. Stothart, Dr. Coulthard, and colleagues demonstrated that Fastball is particularly effective at detecting small, subtle changes in brain waves that occur when a person recalls an image. They have shown that this reaction alters as a person develops dementia, providing hope as a breakthrough for early diagnosis.

Dementia is frequently detected too late, after the disease has caused irreversible brain damage. This can occur up to 20 years after the onset of dementia. Current diagnosis frequently relies on a series of subjective questions to evaluate a person’s memory, which is restricted and can be influenced by a person’s education, language abilities, or anxiousness.

Fastball, on the other hand, is entirely passive. This means that the person performing the test does not need to understand the task or be aware of their memory response. It is also portable, which means that future diagnoses could be performed anywhere, even a patient’s home.

The team believes that by testing more people earlier and more frequently, it will be possible to reduce the age of diagnosis by up to five years in the short term and even more in the long run. According to Alzheimer’s Research UK, many people would like to know if they may acquire Alzheimer’s in the future, even if they don’t now have symptoms.

Fastball will be tested on over 1000 patients in a working dementia clinic at Southmead Hospital in Bristol as part of a new five-year NIHR initiative. This is the largest study of its kind to use EEG to screen for Alzheimer’s disease, with the purpose of enrolling a broad patient group.

They will also collaborate with Belfast-based business partners Cumulus Neuroscience Ltd to turn the technology into a product that can be pushed out across the NHS and beyond. It will employ the existing Cumulus dry electrode 16-lead EEG headset, which is UKCA approved and has FDA 510-K certification.

“Nearly all of us will know someone, or be caring for someone, with dementia,” said Dr George Stothart, study co-lead and cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Bath’s Department of Psychology. The expenses to families and the NHS are substantial, and are expected to climb as our population ages. However, dementia is currently being identified too late, often up to 20 years after the disease has begun.

“Quicker, more accurate ways to diagnose dementia are greatly needed so that patients can get treatments earlier and families can plan better for the future, which is why we are so excited for the potential of Fastball EEG and the development of our work through this significant new funding and the collaborations it will enable.”

Dr Liz Coulthard, Associate Professor in Dementia Neurology at the University of Bristol and neurologist at North Bristol NHS Trust, added: “Patients can wait a long time for diagnosis and some of our current tests can be inaccurate and sometimes stressful for them. A quick, easy-to-administer memory test, like Fastball, could transform a patient’s journey to diagnosis.

“As we adopt new treatments into clinical practice, we will need to scale-up our ability to diagnose people at an early stage of Alzheimer’s and avoid language barriers. Fastball offers the opportunity to improve Alzheimer’s diagnosis equitably.”

Cumulus Neuroscience uses proprietary technology and in-house knowledge to collect vast volumes of real-world, clinical data that is repeated over time across different behavioral and physiological domains in the clinic or at the patient’s home. It makes use of a UKCA-marked dry sensor 16-lead EEG headgear that is linked to a unique, tablet-based neuro-assessment platform.

“Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease that affects brain function, memory, and other cognitive abilities. Since diagnosis is often based on a clinician asking a patient a series of questions to test memory function, the results can be greatly impacted by factors including education, language skills and anxiety,” said Brian Murphy, PhD, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Cumulus.

“Cumulus is proud to be partnering with Drs Stothart and Coulthard on the development of this crucial new diagnostic tool. As a passive test, Fastball EEG has the potential to democratize how Alzheimer’s is diagnosed, ensuring all patients have an opportunity for earlier intervention and treatment.”

Fastball EEG is one of six initiatives launched as part of a large £11 million investment to develop enhanced digital techniques for early detection and diagnosis of dementia through the new NIHR funding.

Professor Lucy Chappell, NIHR CEO, added: “New technologies have the potential to radically transform healthcare for the future. Improving methods for treating and living with dementia is work of vital public interest. These studies will also support the dementia healthcare mission in the Life Science Vision, as we look for new ways of understanding whether drugs are working by using digital biomarkers. Such significant investment in these important projects shows that the UK is at the cutting edge of research into one of the most pressing health and care issues of our time.”

Director of BRACE Dementia Research, Chris Williams, said: “We are thrilled and excited to see the Fastball test being investigated for wider use in the NHS. Since 2017, BRACE has awarded significant funding to the Alzheimer’s test, and we applaud George and Liz’s fantastic work.”

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