Key points from article :
Researchers have created a simple blood test that can detect Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
Test accurately measures one of the proteins—P-tau181—implicated in AD.
Blood collected in Montreal from TRIAD participants, sent to Sweden for assay testing.
“Countries that don’t have PET scanners now have hope for a more accurate diagnosis for AD."
Sensitive enough to differentiate AD from other neurodegenerative disorders.
30% of patients currently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease don’t actually have the disease.
Another trial underway to assure performance in clinical setting.
Test could be a screening tool in the primary care setting, aside from monitoring AD progression.
The biomarker will be particularly useful to test younger patients displaying cognitive decline.
The test should be widely available in two to three years.
Research bu McGill University, published in The Lancet Neurology.
