Tracking Neurodegenerative Disease Trajectories With EEG Biomarkers: Chris Berka

WATCH TIME: 4 minutes

"EEG is never going to be the complete diagnostic solution. It's an adjunct, but it can be very helpful for the clinical neurologist to inexpensively and easily differentiate patients very early in the process."

Alzheimer disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are both common causes of dementia, but their overlapping symptoms often make it difficult for providers to differentiate between them. Recent advances in dementia research have highlighted quantitative electroencephalography (EEG) as a promising tool for identifying biosignatures that can help distinguish between AD and FTD. A recent pilot study presented at the 2024 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, July 28 to August 1, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, successfully identified distinct EEG biosignatures associated with each condition.¹

Conducted by senior author Chris Berka, and colleagues, the study also reported that quantitative analysis of the posterior dominant rhythm (PDR) showed slowing in both patients with AD and patients with FTD. However, the authors noted a significant reduction in PDR power in patients with AD, whereas it remained relatively preserved in those with FTD. Additionally, researchers observed that different subtypes of FTD might exhibit unique EEG abnormalities, such as more pronounced PDR slowing in behavioral-variant FTD and delayed event-related potential components in primary progressive aphasia FTD.

At the conference, Berka, CEO and cofounder at Advanced Brain Monitoring, sat down with NeurologyLive^® in an interview to discuss the key differences observed in EEG biomarkers between healthy controls and patients with neurodegenerative diseases. She also talked about how event-related potentials during memory and attention tasks contribute to the early detection of neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, Berka spoke about the challenges that researchers face in expanding their data sets for neurodegenerative diseases compared with healthy controls.

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REFERENCES
1. Meghdadi AH, Verma A, Mendez MF, Berka C. Comparative EEG biosignatures in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia: A pilot study. Presented at: 2024 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference; July 18 to August 1; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Abstract 332.