This is about Summary:• A new blood test that can detect Alzheimer’s early in the course of the disease is expected to become available next year.• The test, which is already in use in the USA, measures the level of a protein in the blood that indicates the presence of beta amyloid in the brain, a sign of Alzheimer’s disease.• The test is 90 percent safe and can potentially be equally available throughout the country, says Selbæk.• For people who are waiting for a diagnosis, can this blood test saves them from many unnecessary examinations.• The European Medicines Agency has approved a medicine that can slow down Alzheimer’s disease.• Today there are 101,000 people with dementia in Norway, and of these between 60 and 70,000 have Alzheimer’s disease. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. There are currently no medicines that can cure a person of Alzheimer’s disease. It is also demanding to make a diagnosis. The investigations are often lengthy and complicated. But this could already change next year. Then there will probably be a blood test that can detect Alzheimer’s more easily. This is according to Geir Selbæk, who is professor of geriatrics with a focus on brain diseases and head of research at the National Center for Aging and Health. Research manager Geir Selbæk says the blood test is a small medical revolution. Photo: Marianne Ytre-Eide / news – This is a revolution. It changes the way we diagnose dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. He says a precise diagnosis will potentially be equally available throughout the country. The blood test is in use in the USA now. In Sweden, she will probably arrive during the year or early next year. The blood test measures the level of a protein in the blood. The result will give an answer as to whether the patient has the substance beta-amyloid in the brain, a sign of Alzheimer’s disease. – Yes, that is strange. Why on earth is it possible to measure a tiny amount of a protein in the blood, and then it tells if you have a completely different substance in the brain. But that’s actually how it is. He says this has been investigated in many large studies, and the precision is about as high as if we measured directly in the brain. According to Selbæk, the test is 90 percent safe. The colors show how a brain is affected by dementia. Now a blood test can detect this early. Photo: National Institute on Aging Both Alzheimer’s and dementia in general are linked to protein clumping together in the brain and forming so-called plaques. In order to find this out directly in the brain, one has to use rarely available and partly very expensive examinations. This is Alzheimer’s disease Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic brain disease and the most common cause of dementia. The disease always leads to dementia, and approximately 60-70 percent of all people with dementia have it because of Alzheimer’s disease. The typical symptoms include reduced memory for recent events, and eventually also for events going back in time. The diagnosis is usually made by a combination of tests, imaging studies and blood tests. Previously, the term Alzheimer’s disease was only applied to people under the age of 65, but it can affect both younger and older people. Approximately 95 percent of all people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s are older than 65 years. Source: The great medical encyclopedia Had they given faster answers Knut Thomassen and his wife Vigdis had to wait a long time for answers before they found that she had frontal lobe dementia. A blood test would have spared them many unnecessary examinations, because Vigdis was first examined for Alzheimer’s disease, which she ultimately proved not to have. Vigdis and Knut Thomassen sing in a dementia choir at Kolbotn in Nordre Follo every Tuesday. Photo: Marianne Ytre-Eide / news – Yes, he wanted to save us quite a bit. Then perhaps the GP could have taken that blood sample and sent it in and had it assessed and perhaps come back and say: “It’s not Alzheimer’s”. Then we could go and look for something else right away. Rune Mathiesen has a wife who got Alzheimer’s disease five years ago, but is unsure whether they would have taken the blood test – Yes, I don’t know if it would actually have been any easier for us in any way. Because it is clear that to learn that you have an illness, and at the same time to know that there is no medicine for it, it is hard to accept that message. Rune Mathiesen says that in the beginning it was difficult to be open about the disease. Photo: Private / private He says it is also a process to be close to someone you love, but who you know is slowly but surely disappearing. – It is difficult to get used to the idea of losing someone you love in such a way. The dementia choir at Kolbotn in Nordre Follo is rehearsing for a Christmas concert. Photo: Marianne Ytre-Eide / news Medicine is approved in the EU Today there are 101,000 people with dementia in Norway, says Selbæk. Of these, between 60 and 70,000 have Alzheimer’s disease. – Yes, this is going to increase a lot. It should be calculated that by 2050, i.e. in 25 years, there will be more than twice as many people with dementia, approx. 240,000 people. The European Medicines Agency has recently approved a medicine that experts believe can slow down Alzheimer’s disease. One is still unsure of the effect, but if the EU parliament finally approves the medicine, it will be tested on a small group that is in an early phase of the disease, says Selbæk. – It is a medicine that removes the substance we believe is responsible for causing Alzheimer’s disease from the brain. It removes it completely. But the question is whether it affects the symptoms. Senior doctor Sigurd Hortemo in the Directorate for Medical Products (DMP) says the drug is automatically approved in Norway, if it is approved by European drug regulatory authorities. – Once the EU Commission has said yes, we have one month to issue a Norwegian marketing license to the company. However, it is up to the company if they wish to market Leqembi in Norway. Big questions Today, Alzheimer’s and other dementias are detected by having particular symptoms, says Selbæk. Research manager Geir Selbæk teaches students at Ullevål hospital in elderly health. Photo: Marianne Ytre-Eide / news – But what do you do with the answer to a blood test, when you can’t do anything about it? – Yes, that is the big question. Because one thing is that if you have dementia, it is good to know that it is Alzheimer’s disease. So there it has a value. He goes on to say that the question is how certain do you want to know five years, maybe ten years, before you get dementia? Then you can also demonstrate whether you have this substance in your brain, and with fairly high precision. But what should one use it for? – Someone says that “I want to know, because I want to decide, then I want to live differently”, says Hortemo, and points out that there are several ways to look at it. – I want to tick off what is called a “bucket list”. Then I will do all the things I don’t want to do. Or others say: Then I’ll start living very healthy. Not true. – But the question is whether it might not cause just as much anxiety, uneasiness, worry. And it is a difficult assessment that we have to deal with. The situation will be different if we have medicines that work better if you start early. A new blood test can reveal dementia early. Published 22.11.2024, at 21.51
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New blood test can reveal Alzheimer’s disease much earlier than now – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
