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New test can detect early Alzheimer's: study

By Julie Steenhuysen Julie Steenhuysen
– Mon Mar 16, 1:53 pm ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A new test can accurately detect Alzheimer's disease in its earliest stages , before dementia symptoms surface and widespread damage occurs, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

The test, which measures proteins in spinal fluid that can point to Alzheimer's, was 87 percent accurate at predicting which patients with early memory problems and other symptoms of cognitive impairment would eventually be diagnosed with Alzheimer's, they said.

"With this test, we can reliably detect and track the progression of Alzheimer's disease," said Leslie Shaw of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, whose study appears in the Annals of Neurology.

Such tests, which look for so-called biomarkers of disease, can help researchers better focus trials of Alzheimer's treatments, Shaw said....

...They found people with low concentrations of amyloid beta42 were more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, presumably because the protein was accumulating in plaques in the brain .

They also found people with high levels of tau in their spinal fluid were more likely to develop the disease.

...The test also ruled out the disease in 95.2 percent of the volunteers...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090316/hl_nm/us_alzheimers_test