Neurologist Recommendations Australia / MRI vs Neuroquant

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Ange E
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Neurologist Recommendations Australia / MRI vs Neuroquant

Post by Ange E »

Hello, I am looking for a Neurologist/Physician in Australia who is embracing the functional medicine and Bredesen Protocol approach.

I am also interested in the type of scanning you use in USA (currently I have had MRI's with contrast)? I have heard NeuroQuant is another technology that provides more information without the heavy metal contrast exposure.

I would be most grateful to hear any recommendations.
NF52
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Re: Neurologist Recommendations Australia / MRI vs Neuroquant

Post by NF52 »

Ange E wrote:Hello, I am looking for a Neurologist/Physician in Australia who is embracing the functional medicine and Bredesen Protocol approach.

I am also interested in the type of scanning you use in USA (currently I have had MRI's with contrast)? I have heard NeuroQuant is another technology that provides more information without the heavy metal contrast exposure.

I would be most grateful to hear any recommendations.
Hi Ange E,

I probably can't answer all of your questions, but will attempt to offer a little help. I saw in your previous post that you had an amyloid-related stroke with vasculitis last year. So sorry that you have experienced that; the vascular risks of ApoE4 sometimes get over-shadowed by the focus on Alzheimer's disease. As someone who used to work with kids who had traumatic brain injuries, and a few with pediatric strokes, I know that the rehab from occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech-language pathologists often resulted in amazing return of function, and in creative work-arounds when needed. Hope you've found that available in Australia, even with COVID-19.

Here's two sections of our Wiki that focus on Searching for a Healthcare Practitioner and a listing of practitioners who have either requested to have their info included or those who have been recommended by our members: ApoE4-Aware Healthcare Practitioners. Some of these practitioners provide tele-health consultations, so you may want to check out options beyond those in Southern Australia.

As for scans, each has advantages and disadvantages. As a non-medical professional who has had MRIs and PET scans as part of a clinical trial, my impression is that MRIs are typically used to look for signs of white matter disease, sometimes seen in people with vascular issues, and for changes in the size or relative symmetry of various brain regions. It's not possible to predict whether someone with some white matter lesions will go on to develop mild cognitive impairment or AD, or vascular strokes or dementia.
A PET scan, usually available only through clinical trials, is used to show whether amyloid beta is present in the brain at an "elevated" level. Currently it is not possible to predict with any certainty whether someone with elevated amyloid beta will go on to develop AD. The FDA in the US just approved a PET tau tracer, which has been used in research and will now be studied more as a biomarker that seems to appear after amyloid beta and may signal a progression of preclinical Alzheimer's pathology.

The Neuroquant provides much more detailed readings of your brain, from my understanding, but is still relatively new and thus not able to be easily used for prediction. I know of someone who recently had one, with two neurologists having to consult (one the prescribing Dr; the other someone who reads Neuroquant frequently). The third-hand sense I got is that they said "Here's what we see; it's interesting in these ways, and we don't know whether these changes happened 20 years ago or last year. We can't predict from this what will happen in the next 2 years, so we recommend re-testing in 2 years with cognitive and MRI." As with any test, I think it's helpful to try to imagine how you will feel depending on the news, and how it would change what you are doing for your brain health. If it's not going to change what you do day-to-day, and won't give you a certain fate one way or another, you may want to hold off. (Just my view!)

I wonder if you have a neurologist who saw you around the time of the stroke who can advise you on how you can gain more information on your current brain status and vascular issues?

Back in July, you said you were interested in any research. Here is one study I found in South Australia that is a randomized clinical trial of a drug for people with "vascular dementia"
Placebo controlled clinical trial of sailuotong for patients with vascular dementia or Alzheimer’s disease with cerebrovascular disease

Although you may not be eligible for this trial, if you don't have a diagnosis of vascular dementia, you may still want to contact the study's principal investigators, listed at the bottom of the linked page, to see what other clinical trials or treatments might be recommended for you. Often academic researchers , like this team at Western Sydney University, are very helpful and well-connected to excellent doctors in clinical practice in their field of research.

Keep us posted!
4/4 and still an optimist!
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