DALLAS: A ground-breaking new early ‘gene’ test for Alzheimer’s is offering hope to millions. The “exciting” breakthrough would help early diagnosis and better treatment, enabling doctors to prescribe patients drugs and brain exercises to slow the onset of the disease before it is too late.
The pioneering test, which is expected to cost a few hundred pounds and starts with the provision of a simple blood sample, involves scouring small samples of DNA for 130,000 genetic variants thought to be associated Alzheimer’s enabling a risk profile for each patient to be drawn up.