The ‘Fastball’ test measures patients’ brain waves whilst they watch a series of flashing images displayed on a screen.

Developed by researchers from the universities of Bath and Bristol, the technology requires users to wear an electroencephalogram (EEG) headset, which is linked to a computer for analysis.

Previous research has shown Fastball to be highly effective at picking up subtle changes in brain waves which occur when a person remembers an image. They have demonstrated that this response changes as a person develops dementia, offering hope as a breakthrough for early diagnosis.

Dementia is typically diagnosed too late, at a point at which the disease has damaged the brain beyond repair. This can be up to 20 years after the disease first started to develop.

Current diagnosis often relies on a series of subjective questions to test a person’s memory, which is limited and can be impacted by a person’s education, language skills or nervousness.

Fastball...