Would You Take The New Alzheimer’s Test?

August 12, 2010

The news that an international team has found a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease in spinal fluid has surely caused much soul-searching since it was reported two days ago. Perhaps most striking was the observation that, in the dispassionate language of medical science, “The unexpected presence of the AD signature in more than one-third of cognitively normal subjects suggests that Alzheimer’s pathology is active and detectable earlier than has heretofore been envisioned.” This finding suggests that many people who are destined for the disease can be diagnosed some time before they develop any obvious symptoms. (The New Republic)