Brain Checkups (Brain Dock) and Dementia Prevention/Early Detection

Abstract

The "Brain Dock" is a comprehensive health check-up system for the brain that has uniquely developed in Japan and has become as widely adopted as the general comprehensive health screening known as "Ningen Dock." Against the backdrop of a rapidly aging society and growing interest in dementia prevention in recent years, The Japan Brain Dock Society adopted the subtitle "The Medical Society for the Prevention of Stroke and Dementia" in 2018 and launched a facility accreditation system in 2024. MRI scans performed during a Brain Dock can detect cerebral small vessel disease, which is recognized as a major risk factor for the onset of dementia. Therefore, the evaluation of these lesions through the Brain Dock is significant for the prevention of dementia. Meanwhile, advancements in IT, communication technology, and big data analytics have led to the rapid integration of image analysis technologies that utilize artificial intelligence (AI) into the medical field. As the Brain Dock is a private, non-insured medical service, it offers the advantage of flexibly incorporating these AI technologies. In practice, AI systems designed to support the early diagnosis of dementia have been developed to automatically determine the severity of white matter lesions and the degree of brain atrophy. If detected at the stage of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), improvements can be anticipated through appropriate interventions. Furthermore, numerous studies have demonstrated that lifestyle modifications are effective in the prevention of dementia.