Alzheimer's diagnoses: proposed guidelines
(the earlier a diagnosis is made the less certain it is)
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For the first time in 25 years, medical experts are proposing a major change in the criteria for Alzheimer's disease, part of a new movement to diagnose and, eventually, treat the disease earlier.
The new guidelines, presented Tuesday at an international meeting in Hawaii, would mean that new technology such as brain scans would be used to detect the disease even before memory problems or other symptoms are evident. If the guidelines are adopted in the fall, as expected, some experts predict a two- to threefold increase in the number of people diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Many more people would be told they probably are on their way to getting it. The changes could also help drug companies that are, for the first time, developing new drugs to try to attack the disease earlier. So far, no drugs alter the course of the disease.
Development of the guidelines, by panels of experts convened by the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association, began a year ago because, with a new understanding of the disease and new ways of detection, it was becoming clear that the old method was sorely outdated.
The current criteria for diagnosing Alzheimer's require steadily progressing dementia – memory loss and an inability to carry out routine activities – along with a pathologist's report of plaque and another abnormality, known as tangles, in the brain after death. But researchers are now convinced that the disease is present a decade or more before dementia.
The new guidelines include criteria for three stages of the disease: preclinical disease, mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease and, lastly, Alzheimer's dementia. Read more: dallasnews.com
The new guidelines, presented Tuesday at an international meeting in Hawaii, would mean that new technology such as brain scans would be used to detect the disease even before memory problems or other symptoms are evident. If the guidelines are adopted in the fall, as expected, some experts predict a two- to threefold increase in the number of people diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Many more people would be told they probably are on their way to getting it. The changes could also help drug companies that are, for the first time, developing new drugs to try to attack the disease earlier. So far, no drugs alter the course of the disease.
Development of the guidelines, by panels of experts convened by the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association, began a year ago because, with a new understanding of the disease and new ways of detection, it was becoming clear that the old method was sorely outdated.
The current criteria for diagnosing Alzheimer's require steadily progressing dementia – memory loss and an inability to carry out routine activities – along with a pathologist's report of plaque and another abnormality, known as tangles, in the brain after death. But researchers are now convinced that the disease is present a decade or more before dementia.
The new guidelines include criteria for three stages of the disease: preclinical disease, mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease and, lastly, Alzheimer's dementia. Read more: dallasnews.com
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