Melania Rizzoli
Are you over 50 and start forgetting words, names or do you not remember important appointments and dates? Today with a simple blood test it is possible to know, five years in advance, if you are heading towards an incipient and progressive form of dementia, but even better it is possible to completely exclude this nefarious diagnosis in favor of other less devastating pathologies. Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia have developed a sophisticated blood test that reveals the presence in the circulation of a particular brain protein that in normal conditions is never present in the blood, since its task is to remain and operate. closed inside the skull, to help keep the structure of the brain cells solid and compact between them, and that therefore, when detected in the plasma of the subjects, its level signals the more or less serious damage already in progress and the quantity of neurons that are dying, more or less slowly, whose waste is eliminated and discharged into the bloodstream very early, when all this still happens without the knowledge of both the patient, who does not manifest obvious symptoms, and his doctors who do not they detect pathological signals, nor are there brain damage on radiological and instrumental examinations.
PROTEIN
The protein in question has been called “NfL” because it is a “light chain neurofilament” which is found in the bloodstream only when the progressive death of brain cells occurs, and in fact it has never been found to be present in all other conditions. of mental illnesses that do not involve the loss of neurons. The importance of the scientific discovery lies in the fact that when this biomarker of the blood is found, its level is equivalent to that of the dying neurons of the brain, and as it has been found in apparently healthy and brain-healthy patients, who presented only very slight cognitive disturbances. such as memory loss, or they had relatives and family members with dementia, this means that with this test it is possible to know and diagnose, years in advance, if you are in the presence of a patient at risk of developing a form of dementia in the future such as Alzheimer’s. The NfL analysis practically measures the fragments of dead or end-of-life neurons that are rejected in the blood, and their level, analyzed with a test to calculate the probabilities, indicates with mathematical clarity how and when the possibility of developing the Alzheimer’s, years earlier than until now it would have been possible to make a diagnosis, or when the disease is in its initial stage and begins to act silently in its destructive action, precisely in its early stages of development, while the patient is still totally unaware of it .
DEPRESSION
But what is the advantage of knowing in advance that we are heading towards dementia? Meanwhile, the test is an important help for neurologists, who in many initial situations find it difficult to distinguish if a person suffers from a psychiatric disorder, such as depression, or if he is showing the first signs of a neurodegenerative brain disease, and it is an advantage to know if that patient is at low, moderate or high risk of undergoing dementia, but above all it is advantageous to exclude the possibility, with subsequent diagnostic research, once dementia has been excluded, of other mental pathologies that have nothing to do with it. see with the death of neurons in the brain. This test in practice predicts Alzheimer’s even before its typical and evident signs are clinically detectable, by CT scan or by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, that is when the disease has already invaded the brain in a massive and irreversible way. One in three people with mild cognitive impairment develop Alzheimer’s over the years, a devastating neurological syndrome for mental health, a disease still orphan of a targeted therapy or a treatment that is able to modify or slow down the evolution and course, and this new discovery can help medical specialists to find new tools , as well as advising targeted behaviors before the disease dominates the entire brain, erasing memory and consciousness, and can therefore allow patients to discuss it with family members, perhaps preparing their future and their desires.
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