Changes in cerebrospinal fluid may signal early Alzheimer's
Searching for a better screen for early Alzheimer's disease, researchers think they have found a marker of change in the brain that precedes the onset of the disease by five to 10 years
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Searching for a better screen for early Alzheimer's disease, researchers think they have found a marker of change in the brain that precedes the onset of the disease by five to 10 years.
The indicator of trouble to come, they say, is a shift in the levels of specific components of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain and spinal cord. Among patients already diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, a drop in such levels appears to be a sign of Alzheimer's years before symptoms develop.
The discovery, published in the January issue ofArchives of General Psychiatry, could potentially aid in the use of disease-modifying therapies, which are designed to work best if applied when a patient is still in the early stages of disease.
"These markers can identify individuals at high risk for future [Alzheimer's disease] at least five to 10 years before conversion to dementia," study author Dr. Peder Buchhave, of Lund University and Skane University in Sweden, noted in a journal news release. "Hopefully, new therapies that can retard or even halt progression of the disease will soon be available. Together with an early and accurate diagnosis, such therapies could be initiated before neuronal degeneration is too widespread and patients are already demented."/.../
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