Could spinal fluid test give early Alzheimer’s warning?

ConclusionThe current research suggests it may be possible to identify those with Alzheimer’s using a biochemical test carried out on a spinal fluid sample. However, it is important to note that: the development of this test is at a very early stage, and the study design used here is not ideal for assessing the test’s diagnostic accuracy. Population-based testing may follow, allowing researchers to better assess the accuracy and, more importantly, how many people could be given an incorrect diagnosis of dementia based on this test. However, development still needs to be done before population-based testing could be considered it included samples from a small number of people diagnosed with different neurological conditions. The people in the trial with Alzheimer’s had not had post-mortem brain examinations, so their diagnosis was confirmed using just clinical testing the researchers could not get the test to work on one set of samples. To be used in real life medical practice, it would have to be shown to reproducibly get good results the proportion of the positive and negative tests that are correct is affected by the number of people being tested who actually have the illness. The test performed well on a set of samples where around a third of participants had Alzheimer’s. These results would be different if fewer people being tested had the illness, and the proportion of positive tests for people without the disease would be higher There are also other...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medical practice Neurology Source Type: news