It may be possible to detect signs of Alzheimer's disease years before a person is actually diagnosed, UK researchers have claimed.

The team from Birmingham City University discovered that people with a particular type of cognitive impairment - amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) - suffer an increased loss of certain brain cells.

Some 80% of people with aMCI go on to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers carried out brain scans over a two-year period of people with aMCI. These scans revealed that the loss of grey matter in the brain's left hemisphere was very widespread in people at high risk of Alzheimers, compared with those who had no other active neurological disorders.

The left hemisphere of the brain is associated with many important roles, including decision making, language, movement and moderating social behaviour.

"Continuous loss of cells within the regions of the brain highlighted in this study should act as alarm bells for doctors, as they may indicate that the patient is on course to developing Alzheimer's," explained Prof Mike Jackson.

While treatments are available to ease some of the symptoms of the disease, scientists have not had much success in actually slowing down the cognitive decline found in people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's. This is partly because people are often diagnosed at a late stage.

The team at Birmingham is hoping that these findings will help other scientists to discover a treatment that delays the development of Alzheimer's.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, PLoS ONE.

As many as 44,000 people in Ireland suffer from dementia, the most common form of which is Alzheimer's. For more information, see our Alzheimer's Clinic here