ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:
A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR EARLY DETECTION, ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS AND MONITORING PROGRESSION
Are you concerned about your memory and cognitive decline?
Alzheimer’s Disease is a major cause of age-related cognitive decline and one of the earliest symptoms is memory issues. With approximately 5.4 million Americans and nearly 30 million patients affected globally its likely you know someone who is living with it.
Although Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common neurodegenerative disorder in America, there are limited diagnostic tools and only a few approved treatments. The prospects for current and future Alzheimer’s Disease patients is of significant concern.
Due to the limitations of available diagnostic tools many people at risk for Alzheimer’s Disease are not being screened early enough. And those that have early symptoms of cognitive decline due to Alzheimer’s Disease are not being accurately diagnosed.
The average individual with a neurodegenerative disease receives 2-3 diagnoses before reaching a conclusive diagnosis. Early and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease is crucial for implementing effective treatments as soon as possible to halt progression and possibly reduce severity of disease.
Valley Integrative Health now offers a comprehensive plan for risk assessment, early detection and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease.
This comprehensive plan combines standard diagnostic tools used by Neurologists such as Braak staging and PET scans with genetic testing and the latest advances in blood based laboratory technologies.
In the early 1990s, studies from Duke University showed for the first time that APOE4 was associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Further research has shown that having at least one APOE4 gene variant can double or triple the risk of Alzheimer's disease. People with two APOE4 gene variants are 8 to 12 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's Disease. Although having the APOE4 gene variants does not mean a person will definitely develop Alzheimer’s Disease, it is the strongest known genetic risk factor.
More recently, scientists have discovered sensitive blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease.
Findings from a multi-cohort analysis done in 2021 showed a blood test that measures concentrations of two amyloid beta proteins had “strong diagnostic performance; can accurately distinguish brain amyloid positive from amyloid negative individuals and may aid in the diagnostic evaluation process for Alzheimer’s disease”.
A 2024 study published in the prestigious medical journal JAMA, found that a separate blood test that detects a specific tau protein had “high diagnostic accuracy for identifying Alzheimer disease among individuals with cognitive decline symptoms”.
Echoing these findings, a 2024 study published in the journal, Alzheimer’s and Dementia found that a test measuring both amyloid beta proteins and tau proteins “showed strong clinical validity, with excellent agreement with brain amyloidosis by PET”.
We can now better understand your genetic risk, detect signs of early disease, provide accurate diagnosis and monitor changes in Alzheimer’s Disease.
These new tests offers valuable insight into patient’s risk and likelihood that people with cognitive decline suspected to be due to Alzheimer’s Disease have a High, Indeterminant, or Low amyloid pathology consistent with Alzheimer’s Disease. They also significantly improve predictive performance and accuracy for detecting amyloid positivity and confirming a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
Valley Integrative Health combines the APOE4 genetic testing, these newly available blood biomarkers with standard diagnostic tools into the most comprehensive assessment plan for detecting Alzheimer’s Disease. We can now better understand your genetic risk, detect signs of early disease, provide accurate diagnosis and monitor changes in Alzheimer’s Disease.
Have symptoms but haven’t received a diagnosis? This comprehensive assessment plan meets established criteria for confirming a diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease.
Valley Integrative Health offers early diagnosis, thorough assessment and evidence based treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease.
Learn more at www.VIHclinic.com
https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/study-reveals-how-apoe4-gene-may-increase-risk-dementia
https://molecularneurodegeneration.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13024-021-00451-6
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2821669