New Technologies for Early Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

Early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease might help planning early pharmaceutical or nonpharmaceutical intervention strategies. A recent study analysed the diagnostic efficacy and accuracy of two methods: (i) the analysis of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease and (ii) the analysis of amyloid beta depositions in the brain by mean of a dye (called [¹⁸F]-flutemetamol) and PET (positron emission tomography) scan. A total of 146 healthy controls and 64 patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease were analyzed. Both assays resulted equally accurate for the early diagnosis of the disease, for this reason their use should be based on availability, costs, and doctor/patient preferences.