The most prevalent type of dementia, Alzheimer’s affects millions more individuals worldwide than the 6 million Americans who have the disease.
WASHINGTON Researchers revealed on Sunday that new blood tests may aid medical professionals in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease more quickly and precisely, however some seem to perform significantly better than others.
Determining if memory issues are related to Alzheimer’s is difficult. This necessitates verifying one of the primary indicators of the illness, accumulation of a sticky protein known as beta-amyloid, through a challenging brain scan or unpleasant spinal tap. Instead, a lot of individuals receive diagnoses based only on cognitive tests and symptoms.
Numerous blood tests that can identify specific indicators of Alzheimer’s disease are now available from laboratories.
Though their promise excites scientists, the tests aren’t commonly utilized just yet since there isn’t enough information to tell clinicians which sort to order and when. There is minimal insurance coverage and none of them has received official approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.
“Which tests are reliable?” questioned Dr. Suzanne Schindler, a neurologist working on a study looking at that at Washington University in St. Louis. “Some tests are not much better than a flip of a coin,” despite the fact that some are quite accurate.
There is a growing need for early Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
The most prevalent type of dementia, Alzheimer’s, affects millions more individuals worldwide than the 6 million Americans who have it. Its characteristic “biomarkers” include aberrant tau protein that results in neuron-killing tangles and brain-clogging amyloid plaques.
Leqembi and Kisunla are two new medications that can somewhat reduce the progression of symptoms by clearing the brain of gunky amyloid. But they are only effective in the initial stages of Alzheimer’s, and it might be challenging to establish a patient’s eligibility in time. It is invasive to measure amyloid in spinal fluid. Making an appointment for a specialized PET scan that detects plaques can take months and is rather expensive.
Even experts may find it difficult to determine if a patient’s symptoms are due to Alzheimer’s disease or something else.
“I frequently see patients who I believe to have Alzheimer’s disease, but when I test them, the results come back negative,” Schindler said.
According to a new study, blood testing for Alzheimer’s disease may be quicker and easier.
To far, the majority of blood test applications have been in strictly regulated research environments. However, a recent research involving 1,200 patients in Sweden demonstrates that they may also function in the hectic environment of medical offices, particularly primary care physicians, who see significantly more patients with memory issues than specialists do but have fewer resources at their disposal to assess them.
Patients in the research who complained of memory problems and saw a primary care physician or a specialist were first diagnosed using standard examinations, given blood for testing, and then sent for a brain scan or spinal tap for confirmation.
Researchers from Lund University revealed on Sunday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Philadelphia that blood testing was significantly more accurate. The results, which were also published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed that the first diagnosis made by the specialists was 73% accurate and by the primary care physicians was 61% right; however, the blood test proved to be 91% accurate.
What are the best blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease?
The diversity available is almost like “a wild West,” according to Dr. John Hsiao of the National Institute on Aging. They use several methods to test distinct biomarkers.
According to Maria Carrillo, chief scientific officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, blood tests with an accuracy rate of better than 90% should be the only ones used by physicians and researchers.
Carrillo and Hsiao concurred that the tests of today are most likely to satisfy that benchmark measure, or p-tau217. Leading an unprecedented direct comparison of many blood test types supported by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, Schindler’s team reached the same conclusion.
According to Schindler, the test examines a sort of tau that is correlated with an individual’s level of plaque formation. A high level suggests that Alzheimer’s disease is highly likely to be the cause of the person’s memory loss, but a low level suggests it’s probably not.
A number of businesses, including ALZpath Inc., Roche, Eli Lilly, and C2N Diagnostics—which provided the version utilized in the Swedish study—are producing p-tau217 testing.
For whom are blood testing for Alzheimer’s appropriate?
They can only be ordered from laboratories by doctors. The Alzheimer’s Association is developing recommendations, and a number of businesses want to apply for FDA clearance, which would specify appropriate usage.
Carrillo stated that for the time being, medical professionals should only request blood tests for patients who have memory issues after verifying the type’s correctness.
Dr. Sebastian Palmqvist of Lund University, who oversaw the Swedish study alongside Dr. Oskar Hansson from Lund, stated that “it really has great potential to help them in sorting out who to give a reassuring message and who to send on to memory specialists.” This is especially true for primary care physicians.
For those who don’t have symptoms but are concerned about Alzheimer’s running in their family, the tests aren’t available just now, unless they’re required for research study registration, Schindler said.
This is in part because amyloid accumulation can start up to two decades before memory issues manifest, and the only preventative measures available at this time are the conventional recommendations to eat a balanced diet, exercise, and get enough sleep. However, research is being done to evaluate potential treatments for those with a high risk of Alzheimer’s disease; some of these trials involve blood tests.
