PROVIDENCE – A Rhode Island doctor is among a group of worldwide Alzheimer’s disease experts who released recommendations in late July on the use of investigational Alzheimer’s blood tests.
While blood biomarker tests may revolutionize the way Alzheimer’s is diagnosed in the future, it’s too early for widespread use of the tests, the group said, noting that the simple procedure is important in ongoing research trials and should be used “cautiously” in specialized memory clinics.
Dr. Stephen Salloway, founder of the Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital and a leading Alzheimer’s expert, was among the members of a global workshop convened by the Alzheimer’s Association that released the recommendations on July 30.
“With additional study and evaluation, blood biomarkers truly could revolutionize the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia,” Salloway said. “In particular, they may prove to be an easy, inexpensive and relatively painless test for the disease that could be administered by primary care providers as part of routine physical exams. That’s extremely significant because it could potentially identify developing disease even decades before symptoms begin, allowing for early treatment that could delay the onset of symptoms and perhaps even reduce their severity when they do occur.”
Studies on blood biomarker tests should be performed “in diverse primary care populations,” the group said, and should examine the tests’ impacts on accuracy in diagnosis and changes on how patients are treated.
“The more we learn from Alzheimer’s research, the more it has become clear that prevention and early intervention are the keys to defeating this disease,” Salloway added. “We’re likely decades away from having the knowledge and technology to try and reverse the disease once it has become advanced, if that ever becomes possible at all. But the ability to identify it in its earliest stages and develop disease-modifying drugs that prevent life-altering symptoms may be closer than we think.”
The workgroup’s recommendations can be found in Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association at alzjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com.
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN contributing writer.
