Brain Cortex

Alzheimer’s Signs May Show Up 10 Years Before Doctors Realize

Rachael Rettner, MyHealthNewsDaily

Happy older woman. CREDIT: stock.xchng

Brains may start showing signs of Alzheimer's disease about a decade before the condition is recognized by doctors, a new study suggests.

Brain scans showing shrinkage in the cerebral cortex of seniors who later developed dementia suggested that researchers had found a marker for Alzheimer's.

Measurements of those areas "could be very important indicators to help identify who may be at risk of developing Alzheimer's dementia," study researcher Leyla deToledo-Morrell, said in a news release. "If a drug therapy or treatment is developed in the future, those who are still without symptoms but at great risk would benefit the most from treatment." DeToledo-Morrell is a professor in the department of neurological sciences at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago./.../