The media has been overwhelmed lately with information about Alzheimer’s Disease and it’s all been good news.  Since the recent discovery of a new test that could determine Alzheimer’s diagnosis 10 years before symptoms appear, it’s been all the buzz.  In Honolulu this week, the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association met at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease to propose a modification to the diagnostic criteria of Alzheimer’s disease.  With no amendments in the past 25 years, it’s about time they took some action.

 In order to move forward with treating and managing Alzheimer’s disease, we also need to move forward in our process of determining when someone has Alzheimer’s and understanding what it means to have Alzheimer’s.  Things have certainly changed in the past 25 years and perhaps now the awareness of Alzheimer’s can spread out to a larger community.

 Since it may be hard to keep track of what has been going on lately, the following are a few of the latest updates from the conference as well as some news from the medical world:

Diagnostic criteria to be changed – presence of biomarkers which are measurable characteristics that indicate a pathogenic process will be added to the list of diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s and can allow for CSF tests and MRI tests to be conducted before cognitive impairments develop.  Read more…

Proposal of 3 levels of Alzheimer’s – by having three different phases (preclinical Alzheimer’s, mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s and Alzheimer’s dementia), doctors may be able to more specifically diagnose patients before symptoms are too grave to be treated.  Read more…

Blood test may be able to detect Alzheimer’s 10 years before symptoms occur -  a new blood plasma protein, clusterin was identified by the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London and scientists suggest that clusterin levels rise many years before the effects of Alzhimer’s are apparent. Read more…

New compound may help individuals already diagnosed with Alzheimer’s  – scientists discover new compound, P7C3 that may work to promote growth of new neuron connections in patients already diagnosed with Alzheimers Read more…

 It may be difficult to know what to believe and what direction to go in, but by being on top of the latest developments in Alzheimer’s disease, you are sure to be one step closer to helping yourself or your loved one. 

 Keep your eyes and ears open – this issue is not going away any time soon.