14 DAY TRIAL // A group of researchers and advocacy groups are now calling for the establishment of a new set of criteria when it comes to diagnosing Alzheimer's disease. They say that this neurodegenerative form of dementia is currently diagnosed based solely on symptoms, when emphasis should be clearly placed on finding and addressing the earliest signs of the disorder.
The effort is spearheaded by the Alzheimer's Association, which argues that changes in both brain and behavior should be taken into account more than symptoms when it comes to catching the disease early on. Alzheimer's causes a host of changes in the human brain, including the development of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, which can be detected via specialized tests.
The goal of the proposed diagnostics method is to detect Alzheimer's in its pre-clinical stage, when patients do not exhibit any memory or thinking impairments. Research investigations have shown that the disease is already fairly advanced when mental signs become visible, and seniors begin losing their memories and abilities to interact with others.
The exterior symptoms triggered by Alzheimer's have been the only way doctors have used to diagnose the condition over the past three decades. The advocacy group argues that numerous new discoveries related to the nature and actions of the disorder have been made since then, and that these findings should now be reflected in the methods specialists use to identify at-risk or sick individuals.
Maria Carrillo, the vice president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer's Association, says that the current diagnostic methods only reveal the condition after it has been at work in patients' bodies for 10 to 20 years. Discovering the disease as early on as possible is very important, considering that more than 5 million people in the United States alone display symptoms related to Alzheimer's.
“We haven't completely obliterated heart disease. But we've reduced risk by about 30 percent. We can do the same for Alzheimer's disease,” Carrillo explains. Studying biomarkers associated with dementia “can tell us that underlying biology is really changing in the body before memory starts to change,” she adds, quoted by NPR.
Early-detection methods have a very good track record for conditions such as diabetes and HIV, so researchers and advocacy groups are pushing for a similar approach to be developed for Alzheimer's as well. In order for this to happen, the federal government will have to support and direct research specifically towards this goal.
“It's a race. We need to develop these screening tests and the biomarkers simultaneously with working on these clinical trials, so that if we succeed, we're prepared for how we would go about screening individuals to receive those treatments,” says Reisa Sperling, a researcher at both the Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Massachusetts General Hospital.