News from the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2020

Many people think they rather not know if they will be afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease in the future.  However, medical experts say that not knowing causes a delay in available treatments that are most effective in the earliest stages of the disease or before the onset of symptoms begin.  Moreover, up until now most people had to wait months and sometimes up to a year or more to get a diagnosis; and even then, a true Alzheimer’s diagnosis wasn’t possible until brain tissue was examined during an autopsy. Instead, doctors used a “series of cognitive tests, brain imaging scans, and bloodwork to help them rule out other conditions and make an educated guess.”

At the end of July, JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), published an extensive article regarding a ground-breaking new blood test that was presented at this years Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2020.  Researchers explain that the test identifies the protein ptau-2017, a biomarker for Alzheimer’s, and has had results that beat out several other biomarkers scientists have currently been testing for.   

In fact, Jessica Caldwell, PhD, the director of the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Prevention Center at the Cleveland Clinic in Las Vegas, says, “This test is predicting which people have Alzheimer’s dementia at 96 percent accuracy, and also predicts who has brain amyloid among people who have no memory problems at 90 percent accuracy. This is really remarkable!” 

Doctors say with better testing that we might be able to lessen the severity of the disease with earlier interventions.  And while the test is not available yet to doctors, experts say it is as a big step toward learning more about the disease and getting closer to a cure.  In the meantime, if you feel you are having memory problems, talk to your doctor about it.  

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Source: wellandgood.com/blood-test-alzheimers-disease/