Dementia test: Image shows sticky amyloid plaques in the brain of an Alzheimer's patient.
Credit: Wikimedia
Shaw said that the test could lead to treatments for preventing the early stages of the disease from developing into the full-blown variety.
"Validated biomarker tests will improve the focus of Alzheimer's clinical trials, enrolling patients at earlier stages of the disease to find treatments that can at least delay – and perhaps stop – neurodegeneration," he added.
"It is important to note that this is not [yet] a definitive diagnostic test, but one step in many," commented Marsel Mesulam, of the Alzheimer's Disease Centre at Northwestern University in Chicago. "This is substantial progress, but there are many, many other mountains to climb."
Testing will continue, and the researchers plan to find further biomarkers. The existing test may be submitted for approval as a diagnostic test within the next two years, said Shaw.
