Breakthrough in Alzheimer diagnosis
The National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer‘s Association from Honolulu are making and experiment by using brain imaging and screening proteins from the cerebrospinal fluid to see if they can be used in Alzheimer’s disease diagnosing.
If they prove to be right, this would be the major breakthrough in Alzheimer’s disease diagnostic criteria since 1984. They say that patients with clinical dementia might be diagnosed with Alzheimer even if there is no documented history of decline in their cognitive function, if they are found positive to one of the five specific tests. Previously, the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease was based only on clinical observation. The specialists said that the tests have some shortcomings, but they have made huge progress in the distinction of the different causes of dementia.
Though, there are doctors that disagree with the results of the testing and say that it is a step made in the wrong direction. Dr. Peter Whitehouse, for example, thinks that the tests are very expensive compared to the reliability of the results. If the tests prove to be right, the patients might be diagnosed a lot earlier, therefore there will be enough time to try and fight the disease, but this will add extra costs to the investigation process. Dr. Kostas Lyketsos of Johns Hopkins said that if the tests will become available, the number of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer will raise a lot.
