Iceland review - 2013, Síða 78

76 ICELAND REVIEW
the reaction has been incredible good; we have assisted over
40 individuals seeking help with diagnosis. They are mostly
referrals from gPs but others come here because they
suspect that they have Alzheimer’s disease—in some cases, their
suspicion has been confirmed,” says Mentis Cura CEO Kristinn
grétarsson when we meet two months after his company opened
its first diagnostic center in Reykjavík in early 2013. An all-Icelan-
dic design, Sigla (‘Navigation’) is the first of its kind in the world.
The biomarker helps diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and other forms
of dementia in their early stages, also promising a more accurate
diagnosis and efficient monitoring of the diseases’ progress and the
effect of medication than other methods available today.
“It’s based on an old method, EEg [electroencephalography],
but what is new is how the information is processed. It’s useful
in analyzing whether people have Alzheimer’s or other forms of
dementia, or whether there are no such variations in the brain,”
explains Jón Snædal, senior gerontologist at Landspítali National
University Hospital in Iceland. “The research we have carried out
in the past decade shows that the biomarker can be used fairly
efficiently for this purpose and just as efficiently as more compli-
cated methods. It’s a simpler and less expensive way to reach the
same conclusions.”
An easy-to-use tool, Sigla applies a five-minute EEg recording
for the diagnosis. Comparing the results to an EEg database of
over 5,000 carefully-documented clinical cases of dementia and
healthy individuals—compiled by Mentis Cura’s research part-
ners at Landspítali over the past ten years—Sigla can differentiate
between mild cognitive impairment, depression, Alzheimer’s dis-
ease and Lewy bodies-Parkinson’s dementia. Whereas people aren’t
usually diagnosed until the diseases are in their advanced stages,
Sigla can diagnose them years before conventional technology.
“The brain can be examined in many ways. This tool looks at
electrophysiology and we have no other technology that does
that,” states Jón. “The diagnostic is always more accurate when a
patient is examined from different angles. This is a new method
for screening patients, used to estimate whether further examina-
tion is necessary. As a result, the patient may also be spared further
examinations—it’s not uncommon that people come for diagnosis
because they are concerned that they’ve developed dementia, espe-
cially after having watched close relatives suffer from such diseases.
It’s an important addition to the tools that we already have.”
Today, no cure for Alzheimer’s exists but Sigla may help phar-
maceutical companies and researchers develop better treatment
options. For that purpose, collaboration has been launched with
researchers in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe. “Those who
develop medication need to follow their effect. This tool shows the
changes quickly—they don’t have to wait for weeks for results—or
whether there is no change at all,” explains Jón. “In our studies
we have demonstrated that the medication we use normalizes the
EEg in many patients.” Jón is moderately optimistic that a cure for
Alzheimer’s can be found in the near future. “I’ve worked on this
disease for three decades and there have been ups and downs. But
I hope that an active treatment will become available in the next
decades, hopefully this one.”
The need is dire. “There are 36 million people who suffer from
dementia in the world, including Alzheimer’s. More and more
people are affected each year because the world’s population is aging.
Every year, more than ten million people seek help with diagnosis
without getting sufficient answers,” says Kristinn. The International
Alzheimer’s Society predicts that by 2030, 66 million people will
suffer from the disease and almost twice as many by 2050. “Today, it’s
the 2nd to 5th most common cause of death in the Western World.
It’s the fastest-growing disease in terms of cost and death rate,” states
Kristinn. He explains that if dementia care were a country, it would
be the world’s 18th largest economy, ranking between Turkey and
Indonesia. If it were a company, it would be the world’s largest by
annual revenue exceeding Wal-Mart (USD 414 billion) and Exxon
Mobil (USD 311 billion). Mentis Cura is set to change this develop-
ment. “Doctors all around the world can send in EEg recordings.
They’re inexpensive and available everywhere. We then send reports
back,” says Kristinn. He would like to see Sigla be put to use around
the globe and to give hope to sufferers of dementia the world over. 
Sigla, a biomarker by Mentis Cura, helps diagnose
Alzheimer’s disease in the early stages. Mentis Cura
CEO Kristinn grétarsson and gerontologist Jón Snædal
discuss the breakthrough with Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir.
BY Eygló Svala arnarSdóTTir
PHOTO BY PÁll STEfÁnSSon
NavigatiNg the
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