Innovative Blood Test Could Be Key To Diagnosing Alzheimer’s
WASHINGTON – New blood tests may help doctors diagnose Alzheimer’s disease faster and more accurately, researchers reported Sunday – but some seem to work much better than others.
It’s tricky to tell if memory problems are caused by Alzheimer’s. This requires confirmation of one of the hallmarks of the disease – the build-up of a sticky protein called beta-amyloid – with a hard-to-obtain brain scan or uncomfortable spinal tap. Many patients are instead diagnosed based on symptoms and cognitive testing.
Laboratories are beginning to offer a variety of tests that can detect certain signs of Alzheimer’s in the blood.
Scientists are excited by their potential, but the tests are not yet widely used because there is little data to guide doctors about what type to order and when. The US Food and Drug Administration has not officially approved any of them, and there is little insurance coverage.
The demand for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s is increasing
More than 6 million people in the United States and millions more worldwide have Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia. Its known “biomarkers” are amyloid plaques that clog the brain and abnormal tau protein that leads to tangles that kill neurons.
The new drugs, Leqembi and Kisunla, can modestly slow the worsening of symptoms by removing heavy amyloid from the brain. But they only work in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s, and proving patients’ eligibility in time can be difficult. Measuring amyloid in spinal fluid is invasive. A special PET scan to detect plaques is expensive and getting an appointment can take months.
Even specialists can struggle to tell whether Alzheimer’s or something else is to blame for a patient’s symptoms.
“I have patients not infrequently who I’m convinced have
Alzheimer’s disease and I test it and it’s negative,” Schindler said.
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