Imperial College London has pioneered a new technology which has the ability to detect early signs of small vessel disease (SVD) which can lead to strokes and dementia.

Currently, doctors diagnose SVD by looking for changes to white matter in the brain during MRI or CT scans.

Nevertheless, it’s typically challenging for doctors to get an accurate idea of how far vessel damage on patients has spread.

This is where the new technology, which is 85% accurate, can come in useful; identifying issues based on score readings which indicates severe vessel damage.

The new software could also make a difference for people suffering from diabetes, as well as quantify patients developing immobility.

The study used historical data of 1082 CT scans of stroke patients across 70 hospitals in the UK between 2000-2014, including cases from the Third International Stroke Trial.

Written by Leah Alger