The blood test that detects early Alzheimer’s

A HIGHLY accurate blood test to detect early Alzheimer’s disease has been developed by scientists.

It uses the body’s immune response to determine whether a patient’s memory problems are caused by dementia.

The test – which was 100 per cent accurate in early US trials – could lead to fast er diagnosis and more effective treatment for Alzheimer’s patients.

Lifestyle changes, such as eating a healthier diet, could also be encouraged to slow the disease until a cure is discovered. The boundary between common memory loss with ageing – called mild cognitive impairment (MCI) – and dementia is blurred.

Research suggests up to 60 per cent of patients with MCI will go on to develop clinical dementia. Other causes of memory loss include vascular problems or medication side effects.

Cassandra De Marshall, of Rowan University in New Jersey, was part of the team behind the blood test breakthrough. She said: ‘To provide proper care, physicians need to know which cases are due to early Alzheimer’s and which are not.

‘These findings could eventually lead to the development of a simple, inexpensive and relatively non-invasive way to diagnose this devastating disease in its earliest stages.’

The test looks for specific chemicals, or biomarkers, in the blood to predict dementia.

Trials involving 236 patients had an overall accuracy rate of 100 percent in identifying those whose MCI was caused by Alzheimer’s in its early stages.

Lead researcher Dr Robert Nagele said: ‘It is now generally believed Alzheimer’s-related changes begin in the brain at least a decade before the emergence of telltale symptoms.’

She said it was the first blood test to detect Alzheimer’s in its early stages, when treatments were most beneficial.

The test, described in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, could also tell Alzheimer’s apart from other degenerative illnesses.