Spinal Fluid Tests helping Alzheimer?

Alzheimer is the most common form of dementia. Firstly it was mentioned by the German psychiatrist, Alois Alzheimer, in 1906. it usually appears in people over 65 years of age. In the year 2006 a total number of 6.6 million people from all over the world, were diagnosed with this disease while by 2050 it is predicted to affect 1 from 85 people globally.

This is one more reason for which researchers are made in this regard so that a cure for this disorder should be found. What was recently discovered is that measuring some proteins from the spinal fluids will be able to accurately diagnose the Alzheimer disease and as well predict, which are those people that are prone to develop this brain wasting disease.

According to a study performed by some researchers from the Ghent University in Belgium, the beta amyloid and tau measurements, which form in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s make it possible to detect patients suffering with memory loss that are about to develop the Alzheimer disease in five years time. Their result was that detected the Alzheimer’s proteins in 36 percentages from the people that had a normal brain functioning.

As for detecting whether a person is likely to have this disease at some point in his lifetime or not, will be a possible situation in ten years time, as after proper research and investigations are done regarding this thing.

“For the next five years, and maybe longer, our best predictions will be for people who are already showing pretty obvious memory problems,” saidAlzheimer’s researcher Dr. Samuel Gandy of Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York, who was not involved in the study.

In the study the medical people from Belgium performed, they analyzed the spinal fluid from 114 adults, 200 with a little cognitive not such serious condition, and 120 number that actually suffered from Alzheimer.

What they found out is a protein that is similar to the Alzheimer disease and one that is similar to a healthy protein. the Alzheimer protein was present in 90 percent of people suffering from Alzheimer and as well 72 percentage with those that had a less serious condition and of 36  percent of those that were normal and had no signs of Alzheimer.

Nowadays, just an autopsy, can confirm if a patient has Alzheimer disease or not. The doctors that are meant to diagnose Alzheimer make it by excluding other causes of memory loss such as stroke, tumors or heavy drinking.

The National Institute of Aging proposed that Alzheimer be diagnosed even before patients register any signs. This involves measurements of cerebral spinal fluid. Dr. Scott Small, a neurologist at Columbia University Medical Center is optimistic though: “Whether by spinal fluid measurements, brain imaging, or cognitive testing, there is reason to believe that we will one day be able to identify individuals who is are at increased risk for developing AD, or even be able to diagnose AD in its earliest stages. Hopefully, in the next few years numerous ongoing studies will determine how best to achieve this important goal.”