‘Perfect’ accuracy in dementia diagnosis
Alzheimer’s disease may now be diagnosed with almost “perfect” accuracy as a brain-scanning technique, which aims to detect the condition in its earliest stages, has been developed. New hope emerged last week when scientists made the discovery which could see less chance of misdiagnosis arising.
Alzheimer’s disease may now be diagnosed with almost “perfect” accuracy as a brain-scanning technique, which aims to detect the condition in its earliest stages, has been developed.
New hope emerged last week when scientists made the discovery which could see less chance of misdiagnosis arising. However, the test has only entered its final clinical trial stages, but if successful, it could be rolled out in Britain by the end of next year.
How it works
A compound called Flutemetamol highlights areas of the brain affected by the disease when scanned.
The compound is injected into the arm and the patient exhibiting symptoms of Alzheimer’s undergoes a positron emission tomography (PET) scan. If beta amyloid plaques are present in the brain, Flutemetamol makes them glow red, which reportedly confirms the patient has Alzheimer’s.
The second phase of the study involved 65 Alzheimer’s patients and those with other degenerative mental-health conditions with less than a year to live, who were given Flutemetamol to determine what the PET scans revealed.
Post-mortem results showed when a specialist tried to diagnose each case, 15% of diagnoses were incorrect; however, when Flutemetamol was used to diagnose Alzheimer’s, there was only a 7% failure rate.
Developer of Flutemetamol, GE Health, claims the results are “revolutionary” as it makes both a correct and earlier diagnosis possible, whereby improving the patient’s quality and length of life.
