Previously, scientists were led to believe that Alzheimer’s was unable to be detected until a very late stage of progression, making treatment of the symptoms more difficult to manage. However, researchers are now very excited to have uncovered a blood test that could help diagnose Alzheimer’s and other similar medical conditions much earlier than ever before.
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease that affects the brain. Proteins build up in the brain that causes connections between nerve cells to get damaged and eventually leads to the death of the nerve cells and brain tissue. Sufferers of Alzheimer’s also have a shortage of certain chemicals within the brain that cause signals to be transmitted incorrectly, often causing memory loss and confusion.
Studies carried out by a team of scientists concluded that the new blood tests were able to predict, with an 87 percent accuracy rate, whether patients suffering from MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment) would develop Alzheimer’s disease within a year. This is a fascinating result for everyone as currently around 60 percent of all patients with MCI go on to develop Alzheimer’s, so being able to capture these results earlier on, before too much brain malfunction has occurred, is priceless.
As part of their studies, researchers also managed to identify 50 autoantibody biomarkers that are able to detect Alzheimer’s early on in its progress. And the chances of misdiagnosis with the tests is slim also, with a 100 percent accuracy rate in detecting the differences between Alzheimer’s and MCI, MS (Multiple Sclerosis), and breast cancer, and a 98 percent detection rate for early Parkinson’s.
These really are some fantastic results in the world of healthcare, and studies are due to continue on a larger scale. The introduction of these new blood tests is an invasive and inexpensive way of potentially saving millions of people from the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s and find better-suited treatment in the early stages of diagnosis.
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