From: deputydog23x@gmail.com   
      
   A true labour of love: Scientist who lost her husband to early onset dementia   
   at just 51 embarks on a PhD and discovers new way of diagnosing the disease   
      
   By Madlen Davies for MailOnline   
   16:56 26 Aug 2015, updated 21:44 26 Aug 2015   
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   Helen Beaumont's husband Clive died of frontotemporal dementia in 1999   
   His death inspired her to discover a new way of diagnosing the disease   
   She found people with the condition had more fluid around the brain   
   When brain cells die due to the disease, fluid may move into the space   
   A scientists whose husband died from a rare form of early onset dementia has   
   discovered a new method of diagnosing the illness - offering hope of earlier   
   treatment.   
      
   Helen Beaumont was inspired by the death of her husband Clive, who was struck   
   down with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) at the age of 45, and died six years   
   later in 1999.   
      
   She set up a charity called Young Dementia UK, wrote a book which has made the   
   NHS' recommended reading list for dementia and enrolled at Manchester   
   University to carry out her PhD.   
      
   FTD is an uncommon type of dementia, and accounts for a fifth of cases of   
   early onset dementia.   
      
   Scroll down for video   
      
   Helen Beaumont, whose husband Clive died of a rare form of early onset   
   dementia has discovered a new method of diagnosing the illness. The couple are   
   pictured on their wedding day	+8   
   Helen Beaumont, whose husband Clive died of a rare form of early onset   
   dementia has discovered a new method of diagnosing the illness. The couple are   
   pictured on their wedding day   
   Mr Beaumont died of frontotemporal dementia in 1999. He is pictured with son   
   Alan and daughter Rachel	+8   
   Mr Beaumont died of frontotemporal dementia in 1999. He is pictured with son   
   Alan and daughter Rachel   
   Ms Beaumont's research focussed on using MR (magnetic resonance) scans to look   
   for signs of the disease.   
      
   She was able to show it's possible to identify the condition by examining the   
   amount and location of fluid in the brain.   
      
   'Diagnosing FTD is currently a process of elimination,' she said.   
      
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   'The symptoms such as personality changes or difficulties in performing tasks   
   at work can be attributed to a number of physical and mental conditions so   
   doctors run tests to rule each of these out.   
      
   'What I wanted to do is use MR scans to detect differences in the brains of   
   people with FTD so diagnosis is speedier and patients and their families can   
   be helped sooner.'   
      
   Ms Beaumont scanned 17 people with FTD and 18 who were tested to ensure they   
   didn't have dementia.   
      
   THE DEVASTATING FORM OF DEMENTIA THAT AFFECTS THOUSANDS   
      
   Frontotemporal dementia is an uncommon type of dementia estimated to affect   
   around 16,000 people in the UK.   
      
   The term 'dementia' describes a loss of mental ability (cognitive impairment)   
   that is more than would be expected with ageing.   
      
   It's enough to affect day-to-day activities and gets progressively worse.   
      
   Frontotemporal dementia tends to affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the   
   brain (the front and sides) in particular.   
      
   These parts of the brain are largely responsible for language and the ability   
   to plan and organise, and are important in controlling behaviour.   
      
   Frontotemporal dementia often starts at a younger age than usually seen in   
   other types of dementia.   
      
   Most cases are diagnosed in people aged 50-65, but it can also affect younger   
   or older people.   
      
   Symptoms of frontotemporal dementia vary at first, depending on the exact area   
   of the brain affected.   
      
   Generally, it causes slowly progressive problems with behaviour, language and   
   thinking.   
      
   It can profoundly alter a person's character - for example, they may become   
   impulsive and much more outgoing, or uninterested and lacking initiative.   
      
   Other typical symptoms include inappropriate behaviour in social situations   
   and progressive difficulty with speech and language.   
      
   Source: NHS Choices   
      
   She reconfigured the MR scanner to take images of the movement of blood and   
   fluid around the brain - known as perfusion and diffusion.   
      
   People's brains vary in the way they look and so it's difficult to do any sort   
   of comparisons using just the raw images from the MR scan.   
      
   As a result Ms Beaumont had to 'normalise' the images - a process of   
   distorting them until they are all the same shape.   
      
   FTD affects the frontal and temporal lobes, located at the front and sides of   
   the brain.   
      
   If the image is thought of as a map, normalising it makes the same point in   
   every brain have the same 'coordinates'.   
      
   Once she had done this, Ms Beaumont could do statistical tests to see if there   
   were differences in the images between the dementia patients and the people   
   without the disease.   
      
   When the 35 images were normalised and analysed it was the fluid which stood   
   out among the FTD group.   
      
   Ms Beaumont, who lives in Manchester, said: 'It may be as brain cells die   
   because of the disease process the spaces left fill up with cerebrospinal   
   fluid (CSF).   
      
   'As CSF has a huge signal compared with normal brain tissue this would explain   
   why these regions show up so much more clearly in the scans.'   
      
   The current results are for patients with clear signs of FTD but Ms Beaumont   
   is now looking for funding so she can test her technique on potential early   
   sufferers.   
      
   She said: 'There were signs there was something wrong with Clive at an early   
   stage but it took four years to achieve a diagnosis.   
      
   'When people's personality changes, the first person they are referred to is a   
   psychiatrist.   
      
   'Even once you look for physical reasons the symptoms can also be due to a   
   brain tumour or thyroid deficiency.   
      
   'If we can establish benchmarks which show that FTD is killing brain cells   
   then the uncertainty and wasted time for patients and their families will be   
   much reduced.'   
      
   How dementia claimed my husband   
      
   Helen Beaumont, of the University of Manchester, today revealed she had   
   discovered a new method of diagnosing a rare form of early onset dementia.   
      
      
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