Soon Alzheimer’s will not only be detectable by expensive brain imaging and painful punctures in the lower back, but a blood test will be enough to determine whether you have the disease. If the test is validated, the disease can be diagnosed more quickly, so that therapies can be started earlier.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, but diagnosis remains a challenge, especially in the earlier stages of the disease. To diagnose the disease, three things need to be examined: abnormal accumulations of two specific proteins and neurodegeneration – the slow loss of neuronal cells in certain parts of the brain. This can be done through a combination of brain imaging and analysis of cerebrospinal fluid taken from the lower back through a puncture. However, a lumbar puncture can be painful and people may experience headaches or back pain after the procedure, while brain imaging is expensive and time-consuming.
“The development of a reliable blood test would be an important step forward,” says Prof. Thomas Karikari of the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. “A blood test is cheaper, safer and easier to administer,” says Karikari.
While current blood tests can accurately detect abnormalities in the proteins, detecting damage to nerve cells specific to the brain has proven more difficult. The next step is to validate the test in a wider range of patients, including people of different races and ethnic backgrounds, and people with different stages of memory loss or other possible dementia symptoms.
It is not yet clear when the test would be available.
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