Science / Medicine : Test Pinpoints Fibrous Deposits

A new test can pinpoint buildups of fibrous deposits throughout the body and someday may lead to a better way of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease, British researchers reported last week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The test uses a natural blood protein joined with a radioactive isotope to find the buildups, known as amyloid deposits.

Initially, the procedure will be used to diagnose a rare disease called systemic amyloidosis. In this disorder, proteins fail to break down properly and slowly accumulate in tissues, where they form damaging fibers. Until now, the only way to diagnose systemic amyloidosis was to stick a needle into the body, draw out tissue and look at it under a microscope. However, it is easy to miss the deposits, and the biopsy does not reveal the extent of the disease throughout the body.

When the researchers tried the test on 50 people with systemic amyloidosis, they found that it appeared to identify the extent of the amyloid deposits in all of them. It did not falsely suggest these deposits in 36 people without the disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is associated with amyloid deposits in the brain and can be difficult to diagnose in its early stages.