Friday, May 28, 2021

alzheimers news-how to accurately predict alzheimers

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-HOW TO ACCURATELY
PREDICT ALZHEIMERS

i read this article on diagnosing alzheimers disease this morning
we are getting real close to being able to predict if  you have alzheimers disease or will soon get it

why do we want to diagnose it early
all the new treatments to slow down the disease and eventually ones to prevent the disease will be given to folks either with no symptoms or minimal symptoms to make them work
ie
you will need to take the meds early when they become available for them to work
since
if you start them too late they probably wont work as well

so 
diagnosing if you will get it will allow you to be treated early in the disease process
eg
now we can check your cholesterol level in your 30s and 40s and if it is abnormal like mine was when i was 40
my total cholesterol was 326+ and my ldl cholesterol was 250+
so treating my cholesterol over the last 30 years with diet exercise and medication has prevented me from dying from a heart attack or stroke now that i am 70ish

thats what we want to do with alzheimers disease
find those at a higher risk of getting it and maybe like with the cholesterol treating them early to slow down or prevent dementia

in this study 
folks with subjective memory loss
this means they dont have memory loss on memory tests but the patient notices memory changes not detected by these memory test

folks with mild cognitive impairment on memory tests like i had 

these two groups were looked at that had been in the adni studies that i was in 

clinical judgement like if you saw your provider for memory loss whether it showed anything or not and they made a diagnosis would have an accuracy of 72% or .72

if you did just the plasma ptau181 the accuracy would be .85
which is better than clinical judgement by your provider 

however in this research study if you added these tests some of which are available only in the research world but will be available eventually at your providers office
can increase the accuracy to as high as 92% or .92 that you will develop alzheimers in the next few years
then
if something was available to take you could start on it early like i did with my cholesterol

these tests are
plasma ptau181 or 217 these turn positive before symptoms start
they will be available soon in providers office
apoe 4 genotype the gene associated with late onset alzheimers
cognitive ie memory tests
mri to measure cortical thickness
plasma nfl test which stands for neurofilament light protein that goes up in alzheimers disease and other neurodegenerative diseases
it is available in the research world and soon will be available in your providers office

so 
if you want to know if you will get it in 2 or 4 or 6 years you will soon be able to find out if this article is accurate which i think it is

now
we just need that drug that works long term to slow down or prevent this 
sort of like
cholesterol does for heart attacks and strokes

i wonder if my biogen aducanumab will be one of these drugs
i sure hope so

the organicgreen doctor

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