A Blood Test for Dementia?

The technique is promising, but complicated, and needs further replication.

Neurodegenerative dementias, especially at early stages, can be difficult to differentiate and diagnose. Beyond the standard clinical examination, testing can involve APOE genotyping, amyloid-beta and total or phosphorylated tau in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and positron emission tomography (PET) or single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) imaging of brain amyloid. However, these modalities are either relatively invasive (CSF analysis), expensive (PET and SPECT), or both. Thus, a sensitive and specific serum biomarker could be clinically valuable. These researchers examined the use of attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) in blood samples from 347 individuals with neurodegenerative dise…

Reviewing Author

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

A Blood Test for Dementia?

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Reviewing Author