A new blood test to detect Alzheimer's appears to detect the disease as many as 10 years before clinical diagnosis is possible, far sooner than other tests in development. Dimitrios Kapogiannis, neuroscientist at the National Institute on Aging, USA, is the study’s lead author. The test was presented publicly for the first time on November 16, at the Society for Neuroscience conference in Washington and could soon be used to identify and treat patients with Alzheimer’s, earlier in their disease progression.

Already, the test distinguishes between patients and healthy elderly with 100% accuracy. “We will need replication and validation, but I’m very optimistic this work will hold” said Dimitrios Kapogiannis.