A simple blood test will be enough to obtain an early diagnosis of dementia, a condition generally linked to old age, which can however affect even before the age of 65.
Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Hospital have come up with this: Because the first symptoms of dementia are often depression and anxiety, many people don't realize they have the disease.
This is especially the case with younger patients.
The test, described by the head of the research, neuropsychiatrist Dennis Velakoulis, on national ABC TV, measures the level of light chain neurofilament (NfL) in the blood, a protein that helps maintain the structure of brain cells. "Its presence in high levels in the spinal fluid and in the blood - he explains - signals neurodegenerative brain damage". When brain cells are damaged, the protein is released into the blood.
"In many situations that doctors and specialists encounter - he continues - it is not clear whether a person suffers from a psychiatric disorder, such as depression". He hopes the test will help patients get a correct diagnosis in a timely manner. He concludes: "Light chain neurofilament is not present in samples from patients with mental illness, which means that the test can differentiate between the two conditions. It may also assist in the diagnosis of other rare neurological conditions in which cell death occurs. cerebral ". (HANDLE).
