By Michael O'Leary:
The presence of
beta-amyloid plaques shown on
PET brain scans using the imaging agent
florbetapir correlated with autopsy confirmed
Alzheimer’s disease 96 percent of the time, a study appearing in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association
(JAMA) shows.
Led by
Dr. Christopher Clark of Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, the study moves the Philadelphia company a step closer to approval for a diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s, which currently often isn’t confirmed in patients until after death.
In early stages of Alzheimer's distribution of beta-amyloid plaques is low, causing mild symptoms of memory loss and reduced brain function. (Illustration courtesy of National Institute on Aging)
According to background information in the study, diagnosing
Alzheimer’s as distinct from other forms of cognitive decline is imprecise at best. Between 10 percent and 20 percent of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s are found not to have had the disease following autopsy exam of brain tissues. Another
33 percent of patients with mild signs and symptoms are found to have had undiagnosed Alzheimer’s following autopsy.
“Both diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease are hampered by the lack of
noninvasive biomarkers of the underlying pathology,” the authors wrote. “The ability to identify and quantify brain beta-amyloid could increase the accuracy of a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease."
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