Up to half of all people living with Alzheimer’s Disease in Ireland remain undiagnosed. Now, a new blood test may have the potential to transform patient care, allowing for better diagnosis, earlier interventions and more targeted treatments.
Researchers at Trinity College Dublin, the Tallaght Institute of Memory and Cognition and St James’s Hospital, Dublin are exploring the ability of a new blood test, plasma p-tau217, to detect Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). This test could potentially replace the current diagnostic method, a lumbar puncture/spinal tap (which is invasive and poses risks and challenges) in over half of patients with early symptoms, thus allowing more patients to be diagnosed more accurately and with greater efficiency.
The study is published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring today [Friday, 14th February 2025].
In Ireland, over 60,000 people live with dementia, with Alzheimer’s Disease accounting for about 70% of cases. In order to enable accurate diagnosis, biomarkers are currently measured in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) obtained using a diagnostic lumbar puncture (LP) procedure. An accurate clinical biological diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease is valued by patients and aids future medical care. Of those in Ireland currently living with Alzheimer’s Disease, up to half do not have a formal diagnosis, highlighting the need for improved diagnostic methods which are accurate and can be used at scale.Â
The study is one of the first in Europe to examine the “real-world” performance of one of the leading automated blood tests for Alzheimer’s Disease, plasma p-tau217, in patients with mild symptoms