A new era in Alzheimer’s diagnosis is on the horizon as Dr. Suzanne Schindler and her team at Washington University School of Medicine pioneered blood tests capable of detecting sticky amyloid plaques, a key Alzheimer’s indicator.
In 2019, Schindler and her team gained significant recognition for their publication, demonstrating that a blood test could detect amyloid plaques.
These tests, poised to replace expensive PET scans and uncomfortable spinal taps, offer a quick and less invasive way to identify patients and determine eligibility for emerging drugs targeting amyloid removal.
Though these new-generation blood tests are on the brink of transforming how doctors diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in patients experiencing memory loss, the accuracy of these blood tests remains a concern.
Citing Dr. Schindler, NPR noted that the wide variability in test quality raises questions about reliability.
Current blood tests ...