On Sunday, the Alzheimer’s Association kicks off its international conference and there’s already buzz about a blood test that is between 85% and 90% accurate in identifying Alzheimer’s disease. Having an easy blood test could be game changing.
Right now, the only way to confirm an Alzheimer’s diagnosis is with a costly PET scan or an invasive spinal puncture.
Jefferson Kinney is the founding chair of the Department of Brain Health at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
"And a more broadly and easier to deploy version is what's really needed," Kinney said.
Like a blood test. More specifically blood-based biomarkers.
"As we're now entering a phase where there are new treatments that are available for Alzheimer's disease, not all patients, but for some very specific subsets, the importance of being able to accurately diagnose is as important as it's ever been, maybe even a little more so," he said.
Besides being more cost effective and fast, blood-based biomarker testing could eventually be used to detect the disease earlier when interventions might be more beneficial.
