A NEW blood test could detect Alzheimer's disease in its early stages, years before symptoms begin to show. Tests that evaluate specific molecules in the blood could pick up early signs of Alzheimer's-related brain decline, while being less invasive and more cost effective than current methods, scientists say. Alzheimer's is usually diagnosed through physical examinations, memory tests and brain scans, as there currently isn't a simple test to pick up the disease.
Detecting the brain robbing illness early enough for treatments to be effective has been a huge focus of recent research. "Because the deterioration of cognitive functions in Alzheimer's disease develops slowly over time, patients are currently diagnosed at an advanced stage of neuropathologic changes," researchers from the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine said. "Indeed, the failure to diagnose Alzheimer's at an early stage of molecular pathology is considered the major reason why multiple treatments have failed in clinical trials.
" Read more on Alzheimer's Recent studies have yielded innovative ways of diagnosing Alzheimer's, with scientists claiming that a blood test which can detect the disease up to 15 years before symptoms emerge could be made free on the NHS within a year . The test works by measuring levels of a protein in the blood called p-tau217. It fits into a form of molecular diagnosis that looks for what Boston University researchers referred to as “A/T/N” biomarkers.
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